SH
RAVAAyy
\ ‘ ~ \ ANS SS \N
a
ss
\
Lizz
UI
Mj
ty Z ty
SENNA SS ANAS ATE TSS SESS ESAS SPS rn Rn Nan ee ae ge nies NE SNES RN gE
bi8 oh i Fas
i!
mo eo
-_ ratare Cnn i
<.
;
"3
Ww
¥
» Ted
i
-
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY BULLETIN 73
EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS
BY
JOHN R. SWANTON
gulan Mist; = ww? te 71> @
WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1922
CONTENTS
Page.
PEER ULOM ees te ee hee ne Cee Se, Se ee Se avant Beespost eae 9 iasitication of the Southeastern tribes. ...2......-6..--i..-.0----2c-eesee- es 11 Dogs YEE ovok: 2s ais eee Rie a Riate aps a, baie rar La fa a ee ee ae 31 vee ee eee eS) RE OY ao SAL ore cs ous meee aie Cee epee 31 Ethnological information regarding the Cusabo..........---------------- 72 pac Guale indians and the Yamiasee.... 222. .¢:.. 2.2 S02... 22 ee tn eee 80 RRMA Se rc ee eek Pe oe oe AS EE Soke oie fas See 109 SMRRE IDR RCRREC INE cS nt Rae ks ee We ge ee Riu ok 2 US od 129 BERETS RCMPLT UK NTP ny RN nr AR Re Oe ce ee ey IN UE AT eS 134 Demo wase sen dea wo lett ses se Pre enn ey PE SL Rope UR De, 0 ee 137 The Sawokli ...... Prat ne Ws Sanat NES cn NS: ee ee Ta ed 141 STORE EBC Cl sory teteer ee ee Ree Ar yt - Ry gk SA TaL anl 8 TO ce a 143 snesMiopileanrd NObOM Onset e625 A oe ae ne cle cee ce Te ee os se Bee 150 TEE Oot it 2 es See Tae oe tee, oes me ee a 165 TPE ee oe BO eres ee en I ee te ae ee ee A ee eS pot 167 SPROMEN TCA Stee tee A, Aas ae me A Me tl Ge he ee en ee oe e72 Sipe I NED ae RS ace 8 BOM re Ae ee ls Sains MOMS. Magee ee 178 UNSERE (OVC OT SSIS Se rete, oer ayes ee Sen ee oe TOE 179 SPSETeMMIER ERSTE EPeee ta fee Yon te eee eee Se ee ete DA Rs tee Roe ke Le 181 SRC UMT ATAU lacy Mee Pees Bee ROE yee on! ee | eh Son eee 184 TN EBay o AVIS ONE g a te Se, te Se Aenea ae gh eR 191 BRE em esstsck eee ee Pee ee ee a ee ek oe ae eo 201 STURM cleaver ete soe np ct ag rat ee eek eS he ate he ee 207 CD ATEUS io Sah Sele eS OF AR tie a et ee eee ne a a 207 Tennessee River tribes of uncertain relationship. ...............-.-..----+-.-- 211 IRIE ete ee ot. ee ee Set. Mas Nis aoe c Ns 5s Hoa e Cet aes 215 SIRS Lite eee, ie See SO my ees eee le YE Se Ee 216 “TNO CONS] CUS sR lee a BS cele SF Re pane re ay net AR 2a eee 225 sbexGoosa and their descendants... +0: 42) 222.2 ose e eee tees ee 230 DarecA hikes Se Se ey eke eS ay fee Sar be he Bed 251 erento n alien: 62a ss Sen eee ed ee SO OT et ee 254 MU Cor RT Ty Lae Sees. per nel ee gts oe toh ae Be SD ae 258
AM Dre TS COUPE Wi as Ss ence aie Uieat y ax ‘Set a ay Et ak eee SE eran oe eR 260 SUIEVESAN VEU Ken eae Sh Peep eee nee CCE ERS Lig Be Ee ie 263 TUNG MIGHT SS haat ie llr FSS Rae a Cae ey abe al, eS er aR a 265 MT OBIVOLONI TEM -ee et s ee aes Vth es eee crib eee Eo te a 267 een Ae NOC ee ae je eS Es et Sa Be Soe eee eink cu Pee 269 EMG ere See Se 2 Sele ee ote ie a he ae ek 269 Sea hve O lowe ee oe pe ee ee a 2 ok oa see aan 270 ODES SES gi Se Ae eR TP ES te ean nas oS a 271 ANNE TPG Da 2 lel eae ae ee Ta Oe eS ae eee Be hl See es SE 272 “TREE COMETS See apt eR ea SE Os See Se Gaal ee feats tr age ip SS Oe eee 274 Biticmiticnn anenees eee ates eee es See PE gt nN DR Oiber Munkopee towns and’ villages..-.-......-...2i<::.0:.--.-5e2cseei-: 282
6 CONTENTS
Page.
Ther Yueh 3 26 .a.6ee Se oes ees so ak ee ee eee 286 Mhe Natchez Ss <2. se yo ak ied Fee aa se ee oe ee eee 312 MING SHAWN ss. nee sore Lac Siw sande aye Sree ah ee = Ore ae 317 Therancient inhabitants of Florida: 22...2.22 e+... - Ne Rt ee ee aoc 320 PIS tOE Ys an se seca olersia las babs Dio Stata whe Dae Oe ane Sh ee 320 Bthnology st 2.233 ein [ae 2s Pee 2s SR ee oe 345 Pe Semin Ole! oF ts Sia aes ec = ee See Seen we ea ee Ce 398 ner Chickasaw 0s ocasee roe s a ere ee ee ee eee eee 414 NoYes O} nore a fae eaten Sores Scarier pee ee I Bee SENT Ae 420 Population of the Southeastem ‘tribes. los ee eo vee ee ee eee 421 Bublnogtap hye ae c5o6 cans Se 2 ate od ater oom eee ake er eee es ie 457 VM OR 5325S zticrere dh heer etsisvene Steel os ee arm See eye ola a RE So ee ee tare oer 463
ILLUSTRATIONS
(IN POCKET OF BACK COVER)
Indian tribes of the southeastern United States.
. Territory of the States of Georgia and Alabama illustrating the geographical
distribution and movements of the tribes and towns of the Creek Con- federacy.
. The distribution of Indian tribes in the Southeast about the year 1715.
From a MS. map of the period.
. The southeastern part of the present United States. From the Popple
map of 1733.
. The territory between the Chattahoochee and Mississippi Rivers. From
the De Crenay map of 1733.
. The southeastern part of the present United States. From the Mitchell
map of 1755.
. Part of the Purcell map. Prepared not later than 1770 in the interest of
British Indian trade.
. Part of the Melish map of 1814, covering the seat of war between the Creek
Indians and the Americans in 1813-14.
. Towns of the Creek Confederacy as shown on the Early map of Georgia, 1818. . The Chickasaw country in 1796-1800, according to G. H. V. Collot.
Z 7
EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS AND THEIR NEIGHBORS
By Joun R. SwanTon
INTRODUCTION
The present paper originated in an attempt to prepare a report on the Indians of the Creek Confederacy similar to that made in Bulletin 43 for those along the lower course of the Mississippi River.’ In this study, however, it is still possible to add information obtained from living Indians, about 9,000 of whom were enumerated in 1910.2 But when material from all sources had been tentatively brought together the amount was found to be so great that it was thought advisable to divide the work into two or three different sections for separate pub- lication. As our account of the distribution, interrelationship, and history of these people is to be gathered rather from documentary sources than from field investigations it is naturally the first to be ready for presentation. Since it has been compiled primarily for ethnological purposes, no attempt has been made to give a complete account of the later fortunes of the tribes under consideration, such important chapters in their career as the Creek and Seminole wars and the westward emigration belonging within the province of the historian strictly so considered. The writer’s main endeavor has been to trace their movements from earliest times until they are caught up into the broad stream of later history in which conceal- ment is practically impossible. Although not pretending that this work is as yet by any means complete, he has aimed to furnish some- thing in the nature of an encyclopedia of information regarding the history of the southeastern Indians for the period covered, and hence has usually included direct quotations instead of attempting to recast the material in his own words.
It was found that a satisfactory study of the Creek Indians would make it necessary to extend the scope of this work so as to consider all of the eastern tribes of the Muskhogean stock as well as the Indians of Florida. The Yuchi, on the ethnological side, have been made a
1 Swanton, Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley, Bull. 43, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1911, 2 This includes the Creek and Seminole Indians of Oklahoma, the Seminole of Florida, and the Alabama and Koasatiof Texas and Louisiana. (Ind, Pop.inthe U.S. and Alaska, 1910, Wash., 1915.)
9
10 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bunn. 73
special subject of inquiry by Dr. Frank G. Speck,' but so many new facts have presented themselves in the course of this investiga- tion regarding the early history of these Indians that they have been treated at length. Some new information is also given regarding the Natchez and those Shawnee who were for a long period incor- porated with the Creeks. The Siouan tribes of the east have been made the subject of a special study by Mr. James Mooney,? and all that we know regarding two other southern Siouan tribes, the Biloxi and Ofo, has been given by the writer in another publication.’ The ramifications of the Creek Confederacy extended so far that even the Chickasaw are found to be involved, and they have in consequence
been considered in this paper. The Choctaw, however, forma distinct:
problem and the principal attention paid them has been to incor- porate a statement regarding their population so that it may be compared with that of the other Muskhogean tribes.
Sections have been included on the ethnology of the Cusabo Indians and the Florida tribes, for which we are dependent entirely on documentary sources.
To illustrate this work several of the more significant of the older maps have been reproduced, and two from data compiled by the author. It must be understood that the main object has been to trace historical movements and give the relative positions of the various tribes and bands, so that few of the locations may be con- sidered final. It is hoped that eventually intensive work in the Southeast, and in other parts of the country as well, will take form in a series of large-scale maps in which the historical as well as the prehistoric village sites of our Indians will be recorded with a high degree of accuracy. So far as the Southeast is concerned, an excel- ‘lent beginning has been made by the Alabama Anthropological Society. The handbook of this society for 1920, which comes to hand as the present work is going through the press, contains a catalogue of ‘‘Aboriginal Towns in Alabama”’ (pp. 42-54), which marks an advance over anything which has so far appeared and should be consulted by the student desirous of more precise informa- tion regarding the locations of many of the towns dealt with in this volume. In two points only I venture a criticism of this catalogue. First, I am entirely unable to embrace that interpretation of De Soto’s route which would bring him to the headwaters of Coosa River below the northern boundary of Georgia; and secondly, it seems to me a little risky to attempt an exact identification of the towns at which that explorer stopped in the neighborhood of the upper Alabama. At the same time I grant that such identifications are highly desirable and have no personal theories in conflict with the ones attempted.
1 Ethnology of the Yuchi Indians, Anthrop. Pubs. Univ. Mus., Univ. Pa., 1, No. 1, 1909,
2 Siouan Tribes of the East, Bull. 22, Bur. Amer, Ethn., 1894.
3 Dorsey and Swanton, Dictionary of the Biloxiand Ofo Languages, Bull. 47, Bur. Amer. Ethn., 1912. Introduction.
‘1
~
— P ee ran ae ee ee ee
~~
>
7
:
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 17 CLASSIFICATION OF THE SOUTHEASTERN TRIBES
Below is a classification of the linguistic groups in the southeastern part of the United States considered in whole or in part in this bulletin:
Muskhogean stock—Continued. Muskhogean branch—Continued. Southern division—Continued.
Muskhogean stock. Muskhogean branch. Southern division.
Apalachee. Guale Indians and Yamasee. Hitchiti group. Cusabo. Hitchiti. Chatot. Apalachicola. Osochi. Sawokli. Northern division. Okmulgee. Muskogee branch. Oconee. Kasihta. Tamali.' Coweta. Chiaha. Coosa. Mikasuki. Abihka. Alabama group. Holiwahali.? Alabama. Eufaula. Koasati. Hilibi. Tawasa. Wakokai. Pawokti. Tukabahchee. Muklasa. Okchai. Choctaw group. Pakana. Choctaw. Seminole. Chickasaw. Natchez branch. Chakchiuma. Natchez. Houma. Taensa. Mobile. Avoyel. Tohome. Uchean stock. Pensacola. Yuchi. Taposa. Timuquanan stock. Ibitoupa. Timucua. Quinipissa or Mugulasha. South Florida Indians. Bayogoula. Calusa. Acolapissa. Tekesta. Tangipahoa. Ais. Okelusa. Jeaga. Nabochi or Napissa. Tamahita. Tuskegee.
As above intimated, some consideration has also been given to a part of the Shawnee Indians of the Algonquian stock, who were for a time incorporated into the Creek Confederacy.
Of course no claim of infallibility is made for this classification. The connection of some of the tribes thus brought together is well known, while others are placed with them on rather slender circum- stantial evidence. The strength of the argument for each I will now consider.
1 Here and throughout the present work the Polish crossed } stands for a surd 1 common to nearly all of the southeastern languages and sometimes represented in English, though inadequately, by thl or hl.
12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
In the first place it may be stated that sufficient linguistic material is preserved from the Apalachee,! Hitchiti, Mikasuki, Alabama, Koasati, Choctaw, Chickasaw, the leading tribes of the Muskogee branch, Natchez, Yuchi, and Timucua, to establish their positions beyond question. The connection of all of the other tribes of the Choctaw group except Pensacola, that of the Chatot, and the tribes of the Natchez branch has been examined by the author in his Indian Tribes of the Lower Mississippi Valley, to which the reader is referred.?
That Hitchiti with but slight variations was spoken by the Apala- chicola, Sawokli, and Okmulgee is known to all well-informed Creek Indians to-day, and some of the people of those tribes can use it or know some words of it. The town names themselves are in Hitchiti.
Oconee is placed by Bartram among those towns speaking the “Stinkard”’ language,* and all of the other towns so denominated, so far as we have positive information, spoke Muskhogean dialects belonging to either the Hitchiti or Alabama groups. Oconee, being a lower Creek town, would naturally belong to the first. Further evidence is furnished by the later associations of the Oconee people with the Mikasuki.*
The Tamali, so far as our knowledge of them extends, lived in southern Georgia near towns known to have belonged to the Hitchiti group, and they were among the first to move to Florida and lay the foundations of the Seminole Nation. In Spanish documents a tribe called Tama is mentioned which is almost certainly identical _ with this,> and it may be inferred that the last syllable represents the Hitchiti plural -al. These facts all point to a Hitchiti connec- tion for the tribe.
Bartram tells us that in his time the language of the Chiaha was entirely different from that of the Kasihta, which we know to have been Muskogee, and in his list of Creek towns he includes it among those speaking Stinkard.? As explained above, this latter fact suggests that Chiaha was a Muskhogean dialect, although not Mus- kogee. By some of the best-informed Creeks in Oklahoma I was told it was a dialect of Hitchiti, and that on account of the common language the Chiaha would not play against the Hitchiti in the tribal ball games, although they belonged to different fire clans, which ordinarily opposed each other at such times. The chief of the Mikasuki told me that Chiaha was the ‘‘foundation”’ of the towns called Osochi, Mikasuki, and Hotalgihuyana, and that anciently all spoke the same language.
Buckingham Smith, in 1860.
2 Bulletin 43, Bur. Amer. Ethn. The Washa and Chawasha have, however, since been identified as Chitimachan. (See Amer. Jour. Ling., 1, no. 1, p. 49.)
3 Bartram, Travels in North America, p. 462.
4 See p. 401. 5 See p. 181 et seq.
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 18
The Tawasa Indians ultimately united with the Alabama, and the living Alabama Indians recall no differences between the lan- guages of the two peoples. Moreover, Stiggins, writing early in the eighteenth century, gives certain episodes in the history of the Tawasa as if he were speaking of the whole of the Alabama.’ Still more ancient evidence is furnished by Lamhatty, a Tawasa, who was taken captive by the Creeks and made his way into the Vir- ginia settlements in 1707. There the historian Robert Beverly met him and obtained from him an account of his travels and a rude map of the region which he had crossed in order to reach Virginia.? While the ending of most river names, —oubab, is identical with that which appears in Apalachee, the name of the Gulf of Mexico, Ouquodky, is plainly the Oki hatki, “white water,” of the Hitchiti, and is the name still applied by them to the ocean. Since the present Alabama term is Oki hatkad we may perhaps infer that Tawasa speech was anciently closer to Hitchiti than to Alabama. Later, however, it was entirely assimilated by Alabama, and therefore it is more convenient and less hazardous to place it in the Alabama group. In either case the Muskhogean connection of the language is assured.
It is probable that the ‘‘Pothka’”’ of Lamhatty* were the Pawokti later found living with the Alabama, and if so it is a fair assumption that their history was the same as that of the Tawasa.
Muklasa is set down by Bartram as a Stinkard town.‘ It was located in the upper Creek country, near the Alabama and Koasati towns, and it has a name taken from either the Alabama or the Koasati language. Gatschet states with positiveness® that the Muklasa people were Alabama, and he may have learned that such was the case from some well-informed Indian now dead, for to-day the Creeks have well-nigh forgotten even the name.
The Pensacola disappear from history shortly after their appear- ance in it, and nothing of their language has been preserved. Their name, however, is plainly Choctaw and signifies ‘‘hair people.’ It may have been given to them because they wore their hair in a manner different from that of most of their neighbors, and Cabeza de Vaca mentions as a curious fact that several chiefs in a party of Indians he and his companions encountered near Pensacola Bay wore their hair long. When we recall Adair’s statement to the effect that the Choctaw were called Pa®sfalaya, “long hair,’’’ because of this very peculiarity a connection is at once suggested between the two peoples.
1 See p. 140.
?D.1. Bushnell, Jr., in Amer, Anthrop., n. s. vol. x, no. 4, pp. 568-574.
3 Tbid., map.
4 Bartram, Travels in North America, p. 461.
5 Gatschet, Creek Mig. Leg., 1, p. 138.
6 Bandelier, Journey of Alvar Nufiez Cabeza de Vaca, p. 48; also present work, p. 145. 7 Adair, Hist. Am, Inds., p. 192. He spells the word Pas’ Pharéah.
14 : BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
The Tuskegee have spoken Muskogee for more than a hundred
years, but from Taitt (1772) and Hawkins (1799) it appears that they once had a language of their own.1. This statement, was con- firmed to me by some of the old people and they furnished several words which they affirmed belonged to it.? Perhaps these are nothing more than archaic Creek, but in any case the long associa- tion of the tribe with the Creeks, Hitchiti, and Alabama points to a Muskhogean connection as the most probable.*
The Muskhogean affinities of Yamasee have long been assumed by ethnologists, largely on the authority of Dr. Gatschet, but it can not be said that the evidence which he gives is satisfying. One of the words cited by him as proving this, Olataraca, is Timucua; another, yatiqui, is both Creek and Timucua; and most of the others are not certainly from Yamasee. The traditions of the Creeks are divided, some holding that the Yamasee language was related to theirs, others that it was entirely distinct. This last contention need not have much weight with us, however, because to a Creek Hitchiti is an ‘‘altogether different” language. From the state- ments of Spanish writers it is certain that the language spoken in their territories and those of the adjoining coast tribes, northward of Cumberland Island, was distinct from the Timu- cua of Cumberland Island and more southern regions. One prov- ince is called the ‘‘lengua de Guale,” the other the ‘‘lengua de Timucua.”’’ More specific evidence as to the nature of that former language is not wanting. In 1604 Pedro de Ibarra, governor of Florida, journeyed from St. Augustine northward along the coast as far as St. Catherines Island, stopping at the important mission sta- tions and posts, and holding councils with the Indians at each place.* Until he left San Pedro (Cumberland) Island he employed as inter- preter a single Indian named Juan de Junco, but as soon as he passed northward of that point another interpreter named Santiago was added. Moreover, the chiefs met previously were all called ‘‘cacique,”’ but afterwards the name ‘‘mico”’ is often appended, the chief of the very first town encountered being called the ‘‘cacique and mico mayor don Domingo.”’ It appearsin letters written both before and after the one quoted above, as in three by Governor de Canco in 1597, 1598, and 1603, and the report of a pastoral visit to the Florida missions by the Bishop of Cubain 1606. The earliest of all is in the narrative of an ex- pedition sent from Havana in search of Ribault’s Port Royal Colony.
1 Mereness, Trav. in Amer. Col., p. 541; Hawkins, Sketch of the Creek Country, Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls., In, p. 39.
2 See p. 208.
3 See also the Alabama tradition (p. 192) in which Tuskegee, under the name Hatcafaski, seems to be enumerated among the Alabama towns.
4 Gatschet, op. cit., pp. 62-63.
5 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., pp. 171, 177.
6 Ibid., pp. 169-193.
_
Se ee
———
Iw ee Te.
‘
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 15
The captain of the vessel ‘‘landed near the town of Guale and went there, where was the lord micoo (el senor micoo).” A little later ‘‘the micoo of a town called Yanahume’’ came to see him. This word is nothing other than the Creek term for chief.
In 1598 the confessions of Guale Indians, whose testimony was being taken with reference to the revolt of 1597, were communicated by them to a Timucua who understood the language of Guale, and by him to another Timucua who could speak Spanish. In a letter describing his missionary work Fray Baltazar Lopez, who was sta- tioned at San Pedro, states that, while he is himself familiar with the language of his own Indians, he employs interpreters in speaking to the Guale people passing back and forth between their own country and St. Augustine.!
Some supplementary evidence is furnished also by the place and personal names recorded from the Indians in this area, which will be found in the section on the Guale Indians and the Yamasee. The difference between these and Timucua names is apparent when they are compared with the list of names on pages 323-330. The phonetic 7 does not appear, except in one case where it is plainly not an original sound, while f and /, which are foreign to the eastern Siouan dialects, are much in evidence. So far as Yuchi is concerned the history of that tribe, as will be seen later, tends to discount the idea of any connection there. Besides, m appears to occur in the Guale language at least—Tumaque, Altamahaw, Tolomato, Tamufa, Ymunapa—while it is wanting in Yuchi. To these arguments may be added the positive resemblances to Muskhogean forms in such names as Talaxe (pronounced Talashe), Hinafasque, Ytohulo, Fuloplata, Tapala, Capala (Sapala), Culupala, Otapalas, Pocotalligo, Dawfuskee.
Finally, the relationship is indicated by the speeches of various Creek chiefs at the time of their historic conference with Governor Oglethorpe in 1733.2, Tomochichi, chief of the Yamacraw, a small band of Indians living near Savannah at that time, says ‘‘I was a banished man; I came here poor and helpless to look for good land near the tombs of my ancestors.”” The Oconee chief declares that he is related to Tomochichi, and on behalf of the Creek Nation claims all of the lands southward of the river Savannah. Finally the mico of Coweta thus expresses himself:
I rejoice that I have lived to see this day, and to see our friends that have long been gone from among us. Our nation was once strong, and had ten towns, but we are now weak and have but eight towns. You [Oglethorpe] have comforted the banished, and have gathered them that were scattered like little birds before the eagle. We
desire, therefore, to be reconciled to our brethren who are here amongst you, and we give leave to Tomo-chi-chi, Stimoiche, and Illispelle to call their kindred that love
1 Lowery, MSS. 2 A True and Hist. Narr. of the Colony of Ga, in Am., &c., Charles Town, S. C., 1741, pp. 31-39.
16 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (BULL. 73
them out of each of the Creek towns that they may come together and make one town. We must pray you to recall the Yamasees that they may be buried in peace amongst their ancestors, and that they may see their graves before they die; and their own nation shall be restored again to its ten towns.
Here the Yamacraw and the Yamasee seem to be treated as former members of the Creek Confederacy. Unless the Yamasee and the Guale Indians had been so considered the Creeks at this council would not have claimed all of the land on the Georgia coast south of the Savannah River and at the same time have asked that the Yamasee be recalled to inhabit it. It is as guardians of these tribes that they ceded to Oglethorpe the coast between Savannah River and St. Simons Island, with the exception of the islands of Ossabaw, Sapello, and St. Catherines, and a small strip of land near Savannah city.
The particular Muskhogean dialect which these Indians spoke is, however, more difficult to ascertain. Ranjel indicates a connection between the Yamasee and Hitchiti,’ and this impression appears to have been shared generally by the Muskogee Indians of later times. On the other hand, the word for chief among the Guale Indians was, as we have seen, miko,’ the form which it has in Muskogee, whereas the proper Hitchiti term is miki. This means either that Muskogee was already the lingua franca upon the coast of Georgia or else that the languages of the Guale Indians and the Yamasee belonged to distinct groups. According to several traditions the Muskogee at one time lived upon this very coast, and I am inclined to accept the second explanation, but it is not put forward with overmuch confidence.
The name of the Cusabo first appears in the form ‘‘Co¢apoy” in a letter of Governor Pedro Menendez Marques dated January 3, 1580. It is there given as the name of a big town occupied by hostile Indians and strongly placed in a swamp, about 15 leagues from the Spanish fort at Santa Elena.’ The tribe appears later as one of those accused of fomenting an uprising against the Guale missionaries in 1597, and afterwards among those appealed to for help in putting it down.* There is every reason to believe that its appellation was connected in some way with that of the Coosa Indians of South Carolina, but how is not certain. ;
By the English the name is sometimes used to designate all of the coast tribes of South Carolina from Savannah River to Charleston and two on the lower course of the Santee. On the other hand, not only are the latter sometimes excluded, but at least one of the tribes of the neighborhood of Charleston Inlet. Mooney suggests a still more restricted use of the word.® In its most extended application
1 See p. 95.
2 Or mico; ¢ indicates precisely the same as k.
3 Lowery, MSS.
4 See p. 60.
5 Siouan Tribes of the East, Bull. 22, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 86.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 17
it included the Santee, Sewee, Etiwaw, Wando, Stono, Kiawa, Edisto, Ashepoo, Combahee, Indians of St. Helena, Wimbee, Witcheau, and Coosa. However, there is good reason to reject the Santee and Sewee from this association and to place them with the Siouan tribes of the east, to which the Catawba and other tribes of north- eastern South Carolina and eastern North Carolina belonged. This is the conclusion of Mooney, and it is confirmed by the following arguments.
On his second expedition toward the north, in 1609, Francisco Fernandez de [Ecija had as interpreter, ‘‘for all that coast,’’ Maria de Miranda, « woman from the neighborhood of Santa Elena, named presumably from the former governor of Santa Elena, Gutierrez de Miranda. In Cayagua entranee (Charleston Harbor) he met a Christian Indian, Alonso, with whom he had previously had dealings and who is spoken of as ‘‘interpreter (lengua) of the River Jordan,” the Santee, upon which stream his own town was located. Ecija states that Alonso and Maria de Miranda understood one another and even goes so far as to state that ‘‘ they spoke the same language.” From what follows, however, it is evident that we are to understand only that they understood and could use the same languages, for just below Ecija says of another Indian whom he calls “mandador of the River Jordan” that he spoke through the said Maria de Mir- anda, ‘‘ because the said Indian understood something of the language of Escamaqu.”’ This indicates that the language of the Santee River people was distinct from that of ‘‘Escamaqu”’ or Santa Elena. While he was on the Santee, Ecija secured the surrender of a French- man living among the “‘Sati’’ (Santee) Indians. This man declared that he had obtained news of the English colony to the northward from three Indians, and when the explorers were in Charleston Harbor on their return an Indian came down the river who he said was one of those who hadinformed him. Ecija questioned this Indian, but “understanding that he (the Indian) understood the language of Santa Elena, the said captain (Ecija) commanded that the said Maria de Miranda should speak with him. Then he asked him through her the same questions that the Frenchman had asked him in the language of Sati.”’' These facts show plainly that the language spoken on Santee River and that of Santa Elena were not mutually intelligible.
In 1700-1701 John Lawson traveled northeastward from Charles- ton to the Tuscarora country, thus passing through the very heart of the eastern Siouan territory. He visited and described both the Santee and Sewee and hence must have had opportunities to hear their speech. It is significant, therefore, that he states of the l:. :uages
1 Lowery, MSS. 148061 °—22—_2
18 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 73
of all the people through whose territories he had passed that none of them had the sounds f or /.!. This is true of Catawba, the sole representative of the Siouan languages of the east from which we have much material. It is therefore probable that Lawson was correct for the other languages to which he refers.? Santee and Sewee would thus share this dialectic peculiarity and be associated by it with the other eastern Siouan tribes. On the other hand, several town or tribal and personal names from the Cusabo country contain 7 and one an f.* It is perhaps significant that in forming companies of his Indian allies before marching against the Tuscarora, Capt. Barnwell placed the ‘‘Corsaboy” in one company with the Yamasee, Yuchi, and Apalachee, while the ‘‘Congerees and Sattees,”’ the last of whom must be the Santee, were with the ‘‘ Watterees, Sagarees, Catabas, Suterees, and Waxaws.” The composition of his other companies shows clearly that neighboring and related tribes were purposely placed together. On the other hand, there are certain linguistic considerations which seem to indicate an alliance between the Cusabo tribes proper and the Indians of the Muskhogean stock. It is to be noted that the French Huguenots established among the Cusabo in 1562 visited the Guale chief to obtain corn, accompanied by Cusabo guides, and had no difficulty in commu- nicating with him.® When Spanish missionaries were sent to the Province of Guale, south of the Savannah, they composed a grammar in the language of the people among whom they lived, and this grammar subsequently fell into the hands of missionaries among the Cusabo.® It would naturally be supposed that if any radical difference existed between the languages of the two provinces some comment would have been made, but neither the missionaries at this time nor the Spanish explorers then or later so much as hint that any such difference existed, though they do indeed recognize the country north of the Savannah River as constituting a distinct province from that to the southward.
In 1600, when testimony was taken from a number of Guale chiefs, it is stated in a letter detailing the proceedings that “the notary who had been eight years in the Province of Santa Elena, although he did not speak the language, understood much of the languages of those provinces, and attested that the Guale Indians
1 Lawson, Hist. Carolina, p. 378.
2Tn his vocabulary of Woccon, another Siouan dialect, there is no f and but one /, in the word for ‘‘duck.”
3 See pp. 20-24.
4 South Carolina Hist. and Genealogical Mag., ix, pp. 30-31.
5 Since their guides belonged to the Maccou or Escamacu tribe, which there is some reason to think may have been identical with that later known as Yamacraw, this fact might not in itself be conclusive, but these Maccou were found to be associating intimately with the other Cusabo tribes in their neighborhood without any suggestion of a difference in language, and a little later the Spaniards applied their name to the entire district or ‘‘provinee’’ otherwise designated Orista or Santa Elena, the southern part of the Cusabo territory (see p. 60).
6 Ruidiaz, La Florida, 0, p. 307; Barcia, La Florida, pp. 138-139.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 19
spoke the truth.’”’! Somewhat more equivocal is a reference to an interpreter named Diego de Cardenas, who is said to have “under- stood the language of Santa Elena and also that of the Province of Guale.”” He himself testifies, in 1601, that he “has been many times in the lengua de Guale and is lengua of that (province) and of Escamacu.’"' Most important of all is, of course, the flat statement by Gov. Pedro Menendez Marques, when, in writing in 1580 of the Indians of Santa Elena, among whom he then was, he says ‘“‘ they speak the Guale language.”’ A more nearly literal translation of the words he uses would perhaps be, “It (Santa Elena) pertains to the linguistic Province of Guale (viene 4 la lengua de Guale).’’?
In his expedition north on the Atlantic coast, to which reference has already been made,’ Governor Ibarra went no farther than Guale (St. Catherines Island), but one of the chiefs who came to see him at this place was named Oya, in all probability the same as the Oya or Hoya mentioned by French and Spaniards as living near the pres- ent Beaufort, S.C.4. While Ibarra was at St. Catherines we also learn that “the chief of Aluete said that the chief of Talapo and the chief of Ufalague and the chief of Orista, his nephew and heirs, were his vassals and had left him and gone to live with the mico of Asao”’ (St. Simons Island); and when the governor came to Asao on his
return he met them there and had a conference with them.® Orista
was certainly a Cusabo chief, and there is every reason to suppose that the others mentioned with him were also Cusabo. As we have already stated, in his dealings with the Indians north of Cumber- land Island, Governor Ibarra employed two interpreters, Juan de Junco and Santiago. There is no hint that any change was made after that time, and not the slightest indication that the Cusabo employed a language different from that of the Guale Indians, among whom Ibarra met them. The chief of Oya is referred to as a ‘‘mico’”’ along with the chief of Guale, while the chiefs Talapo, Ufalague, and Orista seemed to have moved down the coast to Asao as the result of some slight disagreement with their neighbors and to have settled there as if they were perfectly at home.
Again, as has already been remarked, while f and / are absent from the Siouan dialects to the north, r is a conspicuous sound, appearing in such names as Congaree, Sugeree, Wateree, Shakori, etc. It also appears in one form of the name Santee given by Lawson—Seretee. On the other hand, it is wanting in all Cusabo names that have come down to us—with one or two exceptions which need cause no disturb- ance. Thus, the name Orista, given above, appears persistently in
1 Lowery, MSS. 4 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 188. 2 Lowery and Brooks, MSS. 5 Ibid., p. 191. 3 See p. 14.
90 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
Spanish documents, butit is evidently the Edisto of the English and the Audusta of the French. The Edisto are in one place called Edistare, but it is probable that this form was after the analogy of the Siouan names, and it may, in fact, have been obtained through a Siouan interpreter. Moreover, Laudonniére, on inquiring of the Cusabo Indians about the great chief Chicora, of whom he had learned through Spanish writings, was told instead of a chief Chiquola living toward the north. The J, it is to be seen, is substituted for r.
Spanish attempts to record the Cusabo language were cut short by the unfriendliness of the natives and the abandonment of the mis- sions. Linguistic material may yet be discovered, however, among the unpublished documents of Spain. At all events the Spaniards had a very much better excuse than our own South Carolina colonists for their almost complete failure to make any permanent record of the language of the people among whom their first settlements were made. A few detached phrases and the following place, personal, and other names are practically all that is left of Cusabo:
ABLANDOLES. Mentioned together with the ‘‘Chiluques”’ asa tribe of Santa Elena. As the latter probably refers to a non-Cusabo tribe, the Cherokee, the former may not be a Cusabo tribe either.”
Anoyast, Aosi (?). A small town near Ahoya, or Hoya.
Auusn. A chief of Edisto.*
AuustE, ALugsTE, ALIESTE, ALUETE. A chief and village probably located near Beaufort, South Carolina. This may be only a form of Edisto (see p. 60).
ApPpEE-BEE. The Indian name of Foster Creek, 8. C.5
AsHEPoo, AsHtpoo, ASSHEPOO, ASHA-PO, IsHpow. A tribe and a river named from it still so called; in one place this is made a synonym for Edisto.
AWENDAW, OWENDAW, AU-EN-DAU-BOO-E. An old town, perhaps Sewee.® The name is preserved to the present day.
Basicxock. A creek flowing into Edisto River, near its mouth.
Bacxsooxks, BackHooks. Coast people at war with the Santee; they may have been Siouan instead of Cusabo.?
Barcuo Amini. An Indian of Santa Elena of the town of Cambe, perhaps a Spanish name.?
Buuacacay. <A Santa Elena Indian.”
Boutcxetr. An Indian village near Rockville, S. C.; a creek and a modern place are still so called.
Boo-sHoo-EE, Boo-cHaw-EE. A name for the land about the peninsula between Dorchester Creek and Ashley River. There are a number of variants of this name.®
CaLLAwassi£. An island on one side of Colleton River.'°
CamBe. A town in the province of Santa Elena.?
Caruco. Name given in one place to the fort at Santa Elena. It seems to be an Indian word."!
1 Laudonniére, Hist. Not. de la Floride, pp. 29-31. 7 Tbid., p. 45.
2 Copy of MS. in Ayer Coll., Newberry Lib. 8S. Car. Hist. Soe. Colls., V, pp. 63, 334.
3S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, pp. 20, 170. 9§. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., VI, p. 63 et seq. 4 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., pp. 187-188. 10 Modern name.
5S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., VI, p. 64. ll Brooks, MSS.
6 Lawson, Hist. Carolina, p. 24.
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 21 CHATUACHE, SATUACHE, SaToacHE. A town and mission station 6 to 10 leagues north of the Spanish fort of Santa Elena.! CueHAw. A river; the name probably refers to the Chiaha tribe, to be discussed
later.?
CHICHESSEE, CHECHESSA. A river flowing into Port Royal Sound, and also a creek, otherwise known as Deer Creek.?
Crowrer. Head warrior of the ‘‘Ittuans.’’ It appears from certain writers that he took his name from a white family of the name Crowder, therefore it is not really an Indian name.’
COMBAHEE, COMBOHE, COMBEHE, COMBEE, COMBAHE. A tribe on a river which still bears their name; they were bounded by the Coosa, who were said to live north- east of Combahee River.
Coosa, Kusso, Causa, CussoEs, Kussores, Kusso, Coosor, Cussor, Coosaw, Kustan, Cussau, Kissan, Casor, Cocaoyo, Cocao, Cozao. <A tribe sometimes reckoned among the Cusabo and sometimes excluded from them. They lived on the upper reaches of the rivers from the Ashley to the Coosawhatchie.*
CusABO, CUSABES, CORSABOY, CUSABEES, CUSABOE, COOSABOYS, KoRSABOI, Cussopos, Cogapoy, COSAHUE, COsAPUE, CossaPpuE. Collective name for the tribes, or part of the tribes, now under discussion.’ Originally it seems to have been applied to a town (see p. 58).
CorrBas. A place.®
Darna, DarHaw. An island on the coast. This is south of Port Royal Sound; and although it is in South Carolina it may have been in the Yamasee territory. It is also given as the name of a chief.’
Dawno. A modern river name.
Episto, Epistan, Epista, Epistor, Episron, Epistow, Episton, EpistTarg, OpisTAsH, Orista, OristanuM (Latinized), Aupusta, Apusra, Usra. One of the Cusabo tribes.§ ;
Escamacu, ErscamMaau, Escamaau, Escamaquu, Escamatu, Uscamacu, CAMACU, CamMAQqu, Maccovu. One of the most important of the tribes near Port Royal in Spanish times; it frequently gave its name to the province (see p. 60).
Ettwaw, Erewavus, Ettwans, Irrawans, Iruan, Irwan, Itravans, Errrwan, Irawans, Erwans, Irawans, Inwans, Evuraw (?). A tribe on Wando River, sometimes included with the Cusabo and sometimes excluded from them.?
GuaALDAPE. Name of the region where Ayllén made his last settlement, in 1526 (see pp. 38-41).
Hemato. A Cusabo chief who visited Madrid and was killed by a Spanish captain in 1576.
Hoscaw Point. The extreme south termination of land lying between the Wacca- maw River and the sea; also a point on the south bank of Wando River where it de- bouches into Cooper River, now Remley’s Point. The name Hobcaw Neck was applied anciently to all land between Shem-ee Creek and Wando River.!°
1 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 132; Lowery, MSS.
2 Modern name.
? South Carolina Pub. Does., MS.
‘ The name occurs in numerous places. See p. 68 et seq.
6 Occurs in numerous places. See pp. 31-80 following; also Mooney, Bull. 22, Bur. Amer. Ethn., pp. 82, 86.
6S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 332.
7 See p. 42.
8 Modern geographical name.
9 See pp. 24-25.
10S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., xIv, p. 61.
29 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [puLn. 73
Hooks. Given with the Backbooks as a tribe at war with the Santee; they may have been Siouan instead of Cusabo ! (see p. 20).
Hoya, Anoya, Oya. A town mentioned by both Frenchmen and Spaniards, on or near Broad River.
IcKABEE, IcKERBY, ACCABEE. Peronneau’s Point on Ashley River.’
Icosans. According to Bartram, a tribe near South Carolina hostile to the colonists and driven away by the Creeks; probably the Coosa.*
Inna. A Santa Elena Indian.*
Jonassa. An island.§
Krawa, Cayaaua, Cayaana, CayEcua, Kiwana, Kywana, Kywaws, CayAwAnH, CayawasH, Kyawaw, Krawnuas, Kreywaw, Keyawau, Kayawan, Kaaway, Krawan, Keywananu, Kiaway, Krawaws, Kiawas, Keawaw, Kayawaeu, KYE- waw, CHyawHaw. A Cusabo tribe living on Ashley River.®
Mayon. A town, apparently on Broad River, in 1562 (see pp. 49, 50).
PALAWANA, Ponawak (?). An island near St. Helena Island, which was granted to the remnant of the Cusabo in 1712.7
Patrica. Given by Bartram as a tribe formerly living near South Carolina and driven off by the Creeks; they were probably one of the Yamasee bands.*
OKETEE, OKEETEE, OKATIE, OKETEET. A river flowing into Colleton River, near Port Royal.°
Onrse-cavu. Indian name of Bull’s Island, perhaps Siouan.
Santruracuo Huanucase. An Indian of Santa Elena.*
SuHapoo, SHEEDOu. A chief of Edisto.®
Suem-cE. A creek near Charleston now called Shem.'°
Srono, Sronan, STronoEe, SToANOES, STonoH, SToNOES, OsTANO, OsTANUM (Latinized), SraramE(?). One of the Cusabo tribes, on Stono Inlet.®
SuFALATE. Probably Cusabo because associated with Ufalague (see p. 82).
TaLapo, TaLapuz, YraLapo. A chief and town probably near Beaufort, 8. ©.”
Tipwen. A plantation.”
Trprcop Haw, Trepycuttaw, Tippycop Law, TipBEKupDLAW. Indian name of a hill in Wadboo barony.'*
Toupra, Toupa. A town and chief, located apparently on Broad River in 1562 (see p. 49).
Uratacue, Uratecue. A chief, probably from the neighborhood of Beaufort, S.C.“
Wapsoo, Warsoo, Warroo. A creek flowing into Cooper River; a Wadboo Bridge appears later.'®
Wampaw. A creek and swamp, perhaps in the Siouan territory instead of in that of the Cusabo.!®
1 Lawson, Hist. Carolina, p. 45.
2§. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 396.
3 Bartram, Travels, p. 54.
4 Copy of MS. in Ayer Coll., Newberry Lib.
5 Modern geographical name.
6 Modern geographical name; also see pp. 24-25, 61.
7 Thomas in 18th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pt. 2, p. 633. 8 Bartram, op. cit., p. 54.
9§. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, pp. 19, 20, 23, 64-65, 68, 70
10 §. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., VI, p. 64.
ll Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 188; also see p. 82.
12 §, Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 175.
13 §. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., XI, p. 171; XU, pp. 47-48.
4 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., pp. 188, 190.
1 §. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, p. 332; S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag. V, pp. 32, 119, 16 Modern name.
oo
af 45 2k A
ee ee ee ee ee ee Te
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 23
Wampr, Wamper. The name of a plant which grows in the lowlands of South Carolina; also called pickerel weed (Pontederia cordata).!
Wanpo, Wannoe. A tribe on Cooper River usually included with the Cusabo; Wando River is named for them but the name has been transferred from the stream to which it properly belongs.”
Wanrtoor. A plantation in the low country of South Carolina.*
WAPENSAW. Lands near Charleston, S. C.4
Warretaw Bripee. A place name.
Warpoo, Wappo, Waroo. A creek on the landward side of Edisto Island; also given by Bartram as the name of a tribe formerly living near South Carolina, which the Creeks had driven away.5
WasuisHor. A plantation.®
Wasuua. An island.’
Westo, Westor, Weston, Westa, WEstRAS. A name which appears to have been given to the Yuchi by the Cusabo and is evidently in the Cusabo language.’
Westospoo, WESTOEBOU, WESTOE BOU, WESTOE Boo, WESTOE Bou. The name of the Savannah River in the Cusabo language, said to mean ‘“ River of the Westo”’ and in one place interpreted as ‘“‘the Enemies’ River.’’ °
Wisee, WIMBEHE, GuUIOMAEZ (?). A Cusabo tribe which seems to have been located between the Combahee and Broad Rivers.'
Wrva. Mentioned as an Indian met near Port Royal in 1681 along with another named Antonio. It may be merely the Spanish Juan.
Wiskinsoo. A swamp in Berkeley County, between Cooper and Santee Rivers.'!
Wrireneau, Wicucaun, WatcHetsau (?). A Cusabo tribe mentioned only two or three times; location unknown.!?
Wommony. The son of a chief of St. Helena.'’
YesHor. The name of certain lands in South Carolina near Charleston.
YaNAHUME. A town on the south side of ‘the river of Santa Elena,’’ reported by a Spanish expedition of 1564.'°
Following are the few words and phrases to be found in early works dealing with this region:
Appapa. The[{Sewee?] Indians called out this word to the English and it is probably corrupt Spanish.'®
HippeskeEHu. This is said to mean ‘“‘sickly.’’!’
Hippie pop. Described as ‘‘a word of great kindness among them”’; the Indians who used this, however, also referred to the English as ‘‘comraro,’’ evidently an attempt at the Spanish camarada, so we can not feel sure that hiddie dod is not a corrupt Spanish expression as well.'*
Hippy poppy Comorapo ANGLES WESTOE SxKorryYE, ‘‘English very good friends, Westoes are nought.’’'* The words here are under the same suspicion as the one just mentioned and must therefore be handled carefully; moreover, Indian words con- tained in old documents are so often transcribed wrongly that we can never be certain of the exact form where we have but one example to which to refer.
1 Modern name. 10 Tbid., pp. 65, 334; also see p. 55.
2 See p. 61. 11S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., xml, p. 12. 8S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., mI, p. 192. 12 See p. 70.
4 Tbid., vi, p. 64. 13 §, Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, pp. 21, 75.
6 Bartram, Travels, p. 54. 4S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., VI, p. 64. 6S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, p. 175. 1s Lowery, MSS.
7 A modern place name. 16S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v ,p. 166.
8 See pp. 288-291. 17 Tbid., p. 201.
9S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, 76-77, 166, 378, 18 Tbid , p. 199.
386-387, 428, 459-460. 19 Thid., p. 459.
24 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
One among the above names, Ufalague, has an f and an J; six others an /, Aluete, Alush, Callawassie, Palawana, Stalame, Talapo; and seven an m, Combahee, Shemee, Stalame, Wambaw, Wampi, Wimbee, Wommony. As in the case of the Guale and Yamasee languages (see p. 15), these argue a Muskhogean connection.
The only other fact that seems to promise assistance is the trans- lation of the word Westoboo as ‘‘river of the Westo,’’ from which it would seem that boo signifies “‘river.’’ So far as I have been able to find, nothing like this occurs in either Yuchi or Catawba, the closest resemblance being with the Choctaw bok,? with which perhaps the Alabama pa‘ni, the Timucua 7bi(ne), and the Apalachee wbab are con- nected. The little evidence this one word gives us, therefore, points toward Muskhogean relationship. It is possible that the same word occurs in certain of the names given above, such as Ashepoo, Bohicket, Boo-shoo-ee, Backbooks, Cusabo, Wadboo, Wappoo, Wiskinboo, and perhaps also in Combahee (also spelled Combohe). If this expla- nation holds good for Cusabo the term would probably mean ‘‘Coosa River people,”’ though it is difficult to see how such a name came to be applied generally, in some cases to the exclusion of the Coosa Indians themselves. We must suppose it to have been adopted as the name of a town near the mouth of the Coosawhatchie, or some other river on which Coosa lived, and the usage to have extended from that place along the coast. It should be noted as a rather remarkable fact, and one probably based on some feature of the Cusabo tongue, that of the place and personal names given above, 16, or more than one-fourth, begin with w. This is a common initial in stream names from the Creek language, owing to the fact that many of them begin with wi, which is almost the same as 02, an abbre- viation of oiwa, water; but in the names under consideration wa initial is more common than wi and we together.
The evidence so far adduced applies particularly to that group of Cusabo tribes living near Beaufort, to which the term is sometimes confined. There was a second group, farther to the north, about Charleston Harbor, consisting of the Kiawa, Etiwaw, Wando, and perhaps the Stono. In both the English and Spanish narratives the chief of Kiawa appears on intimate terms with those of Edisto and St. Helena, and their solidarity is emphasized on more than one occasion by the early writers, they being classed as coast Indians, and contrasted with the Westo inland upon the Savannah River and the tribes living in the ‘‘sickly”’ country northward of them.’ In later times the Etiwaw assisted the English in destroying the Siouan Santee and Congaree.*. Henry Woodward, upon whom the English
1§. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 167.
2 It should be noted that final-k in many Choctaw words is barely distinguishable as pronounced. 3 See p. 67; also Lowery, MSS.
48. Car. Pub. Docs., MS.
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 95
settlers of South Carolina relied in all of their communications with the natives, calls the Kiawa ‘‘Chyawhaw,”’’ and although he is unsup- ported in this, his information should have been the most reliable. If he is correct, the Kiawa were probably a branch of those Chiaha Indians noted elsewhere, some of whom are known to have lived near the Yamasee at an early period. It is also to be observed that the chief of Kiawa accompanied Woodward on his expedition to visit the chief of ‘‘Chufytachyque”’ and acted as his interpreter.? If the latter were the Kasihta Creeks, as I shall try to show,’ this fact would indicate some similarity between the languages of the two peoples. The following statement of the explorer Sanford may be added:
All along I observed a kinde of Emulacon amongst the three principall Indians of this Country (viz') Those of Keywaha, Eddistowe and Port Royall concerning us and our Friendshipp, contending to assure it to themselves and jealous of the other though all be allyed and this Notw‘"standing that they knewe wee were in actuall warre with the Natives att Clarendon and had killed and sent away many of them, ffor they frequently discoursed with us concerning the warre, told us that the Natives were noughts they land Sandy and barren, their Country sickly, but if wee would come amongst them Wee whould finde the Contrary to all their Evills, and never any occasion of dischargeing our Gunns but in merryment and for pastime.‘
Clarendon County was in the North Carolina settlement between Cape Fear and Pamlico Sound, mainly in Siouan territory. In 1727 the Kiawa chief was given a grant of land south of the Combahee River, which probably means that his people removed about that time to the south to be near the other Cusabo Indians.°®
Besides these two coastal groups of Cusabo the Coosa tribe is to be distinguished in some degree from the rest because, instead of occupying a section of coast, 1t was in the hinterland of South Caro- lina along the upper courses of the Ashley, Edisto, Ashepoo, Combahee, and Coosawhatchie Rivers. From this difference in position and on the strength of the name I suggest that it may possibly have been a branch of the Coosa of Coosa River, Alabama, and hence may have belonged to the true Muskogee group. On the basis of our present information this can not be definitely affirmed or denied.
By nearly all of the living Creeks the Osochi are supposed to be a Muskogee tribe of long standing, and Bartram classifies them with those who in his time spoke the Muskogee tongue.* Neverthe- less Adair gives them as one of the ‘“‘nations’’ which had settled among the Lower Creeks.? In very early times they came to be associated very closely with the Chiaha and when they gave up their own square ground the two combined. An old Osochi whom
1 §. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 186.
2 Ibid, p. 191.
3 See pp. 216-218.
4S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, pp. 79-80.
6S. Car. Does. (Pub. Records of S. Car., X, p. 24.) 6 Bartram, Travels, p. 462.
7 Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., p. 257.
26 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL 73
I met in Oklahoma stated that his mother knew how to speak Hitchiti and he believed that many more of his people had known how to speak that language in earlier times. This would naturally be the case if, as seems to be indicated, the Chiaha were a Hitchiti speaking people, but of course it is possible that the Osochi anciently belonged to the Hitchiti group also. However, whether they ever spoke Hitchiti as a tribe or not, I am strongly of the opinion that they are the descendants of the people known to De Soto and his companions as the Ugachile,! Uzachil,? Veachile,? or Ossachile.‘ Veachile is probably a misprint for Ugachile. If this identification is correct the Osochi were evidently a Timucua tribe, which gradually migrated north until absorbed by the Lower Creeks. Confirmatory evidence appears to be furnished by a Spanish official map of the eighteenth century® on which at the junction of the Chattahoochee and Flint Rivers a tribe or post is located with the legend, ‘‘Apalache 6 Sachile.” Apparently the compiler of the map supposed that the 6 in this name was the Spanish conjunction instead of an integral . part of the word. The position assigned to them by him agrees exactly with that of the Apalachicola Indians at that period, and if “6 Sachile”’ really refers to the Osochi we must suppose either that they had united with some of the Apalachicola or that they were classified with and considered a branch of them. Since the word Timucua often appears as Tomoco or Tomoka in English writings this hypothesis would also explain the Tomoédka town westward of the Apalachicola on the map of Lamhatty*® and the Tommahees referred to by Coxe in the same region.?’ These particular Timucua would be none other than the Osochi.
The Kasihta, Coweta, Coosa, Abihka, Holiwahali, Eufaula, Hilibi, and Wakokai, with their branches, have always, so far as our infor- mation goes, been considered genuine Muskogee people. The only suspicion to the contrary is in the case of the Coosa, whose name looks very much like a common corruption of the Choctaw word konshak, meaning ‘‘cane.’’ By this name the Muskogee were known to the Mobile Indians. Jn Padilla’s history of the De Luna expedi- tion we read that, when the Spaniards accompanied the Coosa in an attack upon their western neighbors, they came to a wide river known as “Oke chiton,” or ‘great river.” Jf this name was in the Coosa language it would prove that at that time they spoke Choctaw, but more likely it was in the language of their enemies.
1 Bourne, Narr. of De Soto, I, p. 73.
2 Ibid. 1, p. 41.
3 Ibid, U, p. 6.
4 Garcilasso de La Vega, in Shipp, Hist. of De Soto and Florida, p. 330.
& Reproduced in Hamilton, Colonial Mobile, p. 210.
6 Amer, Anthrop., n.s. vol. X, p. 569
7 French, Hist. Colls. La., 1850, p. 234. On his map he has ‘“‘ Tomachees”’ (Deser. Prov. Car., 1741).
Peon Boe TS
a = ‘TT?!
s
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS oy
About one-sixth of all Creeks are probably of Coosa descent, and it is unlikely that a tribe of such size should have given up its language while much smaller bodies retained theirs almost or quite down to the present time.
The Tukabahchee are considered by most Creek Indians at the present day as the leaders of the nation. Nevertheless Milfort,! and also Adair,’ on the authority of a Tukabahchee chief of his time, declare that they had formerly been a distinct people. This ques- tion will be considered again when we come to take up Tukabahchee history, but it may be said that, even though the tribe were once distinct, it would not necessarily follow that its language was also different. There is, at all events, little reason to suppose it was anything other than some Muskhogean dialect. A foreign origin is also attributed to the Okchai Indians by the same writers. Some of the hying Okchai appear to remember a tradition to this effect, but while it is probably correct there is no further proof, and
there is no likelihood that their ancient speech was anything other
than Muskogee.?
Still another people, the Pakana, who now speak pure Muskogee, are reported to have been at one time distinct, both by Adair‘ and by Stiggins.6 Since they settled near Fort Toulouse, they have sometimes been spoken of as if they were a branch of the Alabama, but this is probably due merely to association. just as the Okchai have occasionally been classed with the Alabama because an Alabama town was known as Little Okchai. In the absence of more assured information it will be best to class them with the Muskogee.
Northern Florida was occupied by the Timucua Indians, but south of them were several tribes, which were reckoned as distinct by the Spaniards, though next to nothing has been preserved of their languages and very few hints regarding their affinities are to be found.
The Calusa of the western side of the peninsula were the most important South Florida people, and they were the last to disappear, some of them remaining in their old seats until the close of the last Seminole war. The chief centers of their population were Charlotte Harbor and the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River, and this is of importance in connection with the following facts. In a letter writ- ten by Capt. John H. Bell, agent for the Indians in Florida, addressed
1 Milfort, Mémoire, pp. 265-266.
2 Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., p. 179.
8 Milfort and Adair, Ibid. There is one direct statement to the effect that Okchai was a distinct lan- guage (Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., Ist ser., 1, p. 48), but the language of the Little Okchai (Alabama) may be meant (see next paragraph).
4 Adair, ibid., p. 257.
6 See p. 272.
28 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
to a committee of Congress, February, 1821, a list of Seminole towns is given.!| The names of the first 22 are ‘extracted from a talk held by Gen. Jackson, with three chiefs of the Florida Indians, at Pensa- cola, September 19, 1821,” and to them,Captain Bell adds 13 towns on his own authority. The particular tribe of Seminole represented in each town is not always given, but it is appended in italics to the names of the last five. Thus there is a town of the Mikasuki, a town of the Coweta, a town of the Chiaha, a town of the Yuchi, and last of all we read ‘‘35. South of Tampa, near Charlotte’s Bay, Choctaws.” Later still, in a census of the Florida Indians taken in 1847, there were 120 warriors reported, among whom were 70 Seminole, 30 Mikasuki, 12 Creeks, 4 Yuchi, and 4 Choctaw.? The only Mississippi Choctaw actually known to have been brought into Florida were taken there along with some Delaware Indians as scouts for the American Army, and at a much later date than the letter of Captain Bell. Moreover, from both Bell’s account and the census of 1847 the Choctaw enumerated would appear to have formed a considerable band, and it may well be asked why it is, if the scouts were brought in in such quantities, we do not hear of a Delaware band as well? These references therefore introduce the question of a possible con- nection between the Calusa and Choctaw.
All that is now known of the Calusa language is a considerable number of place names, for a few of which translations are given, and a single expression, also translated. Practically all of these come from the Memoir of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda, a Spaniard held captive among the Calusa Indians for 17 years, somewhere between 1550 and 1570.% Attempts to find equivalents in known Indian tongues have been made by Buckingham Smith (1854) and A. S. Gatschet (1884). Although better equipped for this task, the latter was handicapped, as always, by a lack of critical acumen in the treatment of etymologies, and unfortunately he chose for com- parison Spanish, Timucua, and Creek, the two last because they were the Indian languages of the region with which he was most familiar. Smith, on the other hand, without a tithe of Gatschet’s philological ability, was favored by fortune in happening to depend for his interpretations on several Choctaw Indians, including the famous chief, Peter Pichlynn. Smith seems not to have had any true appreciation of the differences between Indian languages and to have assumed that the authority of an. Indian of almost any southeastern tribe was equally good. By mere luck, however, he
1 Morse, Rep. to Sec. of War., pp. 306, 308, 311; also see pp. 406-407.
2 Schoolcraft, Ind. Tribes, I, p. 522.
3 Col. Doc. Ined., v, pp. 532-546; Smith, Letter of Hernando de Soto and Memoir of Hernando de Esca- lante Fontaneda. The translation in French, Hist. Colls. La., 1875, pp. 235-265, is badly disarranged.
4 Smith, op. cit.; Gatschet, Creek Mig. Leg.,1, p. 14.
ee oe eee
/
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 29
chose a representative of that tribe with which we have since dis- covered grounds for believing the Calusa stood in a particularly close relation. But even so, he was unable to obtain interpretations for most of Fontaneda’s Calusa names, and most of the remaining ety- mologies suggested to him must be rejected as improbable. Yet it is interesting to note that the impression made upon his informants by these names was similar to that certain to be impressed upon anyone familiar with the Muskhogean tongues. He says: ‘‘My monitors say that all these words are eminently Chahta in their sounds, but that sometimes they are too imperfectly preserved to be understood, or that their sense can be detected only in part.” Of the translations obtained by Smith of names not furnished with interpretations by Fontaneda only that of Calaobe (from kali hofobi, “deep spring’’) and perhaps that of Soco (from su’ko, “‘muscadine”’) seem to have some probability in their favor. Translations are, however, furnished for a few by Fontaneda himself, and while the literal correctness of these must not be assumed, they present a somewhat more promising field of investigation. These words are Guaragunve, a town on the Florida keys, the name of which is said to mean in Spanish Pueblo de Llanto, i. e., “the town of weeping;” Cuchiyaga, a second town on these islands, the name signifying “the place where there has been suffering;’’ Calos or Calusa, “in the language of which the word signifies a fierce people, as they are called for being brave and skilled in war;’’ the Lake of Mayaimi, so called ‘‘ because it is very large;’’ Zertepe, ‘‘chief and great lord”’ (though possibly this is a specific title); Guasaca-esgui, a name of the Suwanee, “the river of canes; No or Non, ‘town beloved;”’ Cafogacola, or Cafiegacola, “a crafty people, skillful with the bow;” se-le-te-ga, ‘‘run to the lookout, see if there be any people coming!”
The first of the above is almost the only one in which an r appears— though Carlos is used for Calos occasionally—and it is possible that this town may be one which Fontaneda informs us to have been occupied by Cuban Arawaks. In English the name would be pronounced nearly as Waragunwe, and if we assume the r has been substituted for an original 7, we might find a cognate for the first part of it in Choctaw wilanli, to weep, while the second part might be compared with Choctaw kowi or ko™wi, woods, a desert, but I do not feel sure that this order is per- missible, and little confidence can be placed in the rendering. For Cuchiyaga Smith’s informants suggested ku-chi (cha) ya-ya,
“going out to wail,’ though he remarks that the interpreta-
tions of the names of this town and the preceding may have become transposed. Calos was explained to Smith as an abbrevia- tion of the Choctaw words ka-la and lu-sa, “strong (and) black,”
30 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
but the form without a terminal a seems to be nearer the original, and I would suggest kallo, strong, powerful, or violent, followed by an article pronoun such as ash, the aforesaid, or osh. In case the final a were original the second word in the compound might be a"sha, to sit, to be. Mayaimi recalls Choctaw maiha, wide, and mith, it is so, it is like that, although mih is usually initial in position. I can do nothing with Zertepe, but, as suggested, this may not be a generic word. Guasaca-esgui should probably be pronounced Wasaka-esgi, and both parts bear a strong resemblance to the Choc- taw uski or oski, cane, though of course, in any case, only one would represent that word; the Choctaw word for river is hacha. In expla- nation of No, Gatschet cites Creek anokitcha, “lover,” anukidshis, “T love,” the Choctaw equivalent of which is anushkunna, no or nu being assumed as the radix, but anoa, “famous,” ‘noted,’ ‘‘illus- trious,’”’” may also be mentioned in this connection. Perhaps the most suggestive of all of these words is Cafiogacola, because the ending looks suspiciously ike Choctaw okla, people, which we often find written by early travelers ogala or okala. The first part might be explained by Alabama kafigo, not good, bad, or as a shortened form of Choctaw ikana keyu, unfriendly. Finally, se-le-te-ga may contain cheli, you fly, you go rapidly, followed by -t, used in con- necting several verbs, and possibly haiaka, to appear, to peep, though I am not certain that this particular combination is admissible.
Romans is the only writer to attempt an interpretation of names along the southeastern Florida coast. He gives the name of Indian River as Aisa hatcha and interprets this as meaning ‘‘ Deer River.”’ ! The word hatcha, however, was probably given by himself or else obtained from the Seminole Indians and there is no proof that it belonged to the ancient language of Ais, while the first was probably translated arbitrarily in terms of the Choctaw language with which Romans was to some extent familiar.
Upon the whole more resemblances between these words and Choctaw seem to occur than would be expected if the languages had nothing in common, and those which we find in Guasaca-esgui and Cafiogacola are almost too striking to be merely accidental. In connection with the first of these reference should be made to the name of a province mentioned only once by Fontaneda and seemingly located near Tampa Bay. This is Osiquevede, in which it is possible we again have oski. The latter part of the word might be interpreted by means of Choctaw jitiha, to whirl or veer about.
Putting all of the above evidence together, we may fairly conclude that a connection with Choctaw, or at all events some Muskhogean dialect, is indicated, but we must equally admit that it is not proved.
1 Romans, Concise Nat. Hist. of E, and W. Fla., p. 273.
: ~y ;
i ee eel
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 31
In the interior of the country, about Lake Okeechobee, were many towns said to be allied with the Calusa chief, and from the names of these towns given us by Fontaneda they would appear to have been allied in language also.*
On the east coast of Florida were a number of small tribes settled in the various inlets. From south to north the most important were the Tekesta, Jeaga, and Ais. The name Tekesta resembles those of the Calusa towns in appearance, and so do the names of several smaller places in the same locality, one town, Janar, even having a designation absolutely identical with that of a Calusa settlement?
We know little more of the Jeaga* and Ais. They had many cultural features in common with the Calusa—including a uniform hostility to Christian missions—and their languages were at least markedly different from Timucua. In 1605 the governor of Florida, in commenting on the visit of some Ais Indians to St. Augustine, says that the language spoken in that province was “‘very different from this”? (i. e., Timucua). He conversed with them by means of Juan de Junco, an Indian of the Timucua mission of Nombre de Dios, who spoke to the interpreter of the Surruque, a tribe living about Cape Canaveral. We might assume from this that the Surruque spoke the same language as the people of Ais, but many of them were familiar with Ais on account of the proximity of the two peoples, and I am inclined to regard the Surruque as the southernmost band of Timuqua upon the Atlantic coast.
The linguistic position of the Tamahita Indians is uncertain, but there is some reason to think that their name will prove to be another synonym for Yuchi. This possibility will be discussed at length when we come to consider the history of that tribe.
THE CUSABO History
Little as we know about these people, it is a curious fact that their territory was one of the first in North America on which European settlements were attempted, and these were of historical importance and even celebrity. They were made, moreover, by three different nations, the Spaniards, French, and English.
The first visitors were the Spaniards, who made a landing here in 1521, only eight years after Ponce de Leon’s assumed? discovery of Florida. Accounts of this voyage, more or less complete, have
1 Fontaneda in Col. Doc. Ined., v., p. 539; see pp. 331-333. 2 See p. 333. ‘The Spanish orthography of this word is retained; it was pronounced something like Heaga.
oe BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
been given by Peter Marytr,! Gomara,? Oviedo,’® and Herrera,‘ and in more recent times by Navarrete,> Henry Harrisse,° John Gilmary Shea,’ and Woodbury Lowery. That of Shea is based largely on original manuscripts, and, as it contains all of the essential facts, I will quote it in full.
In 1520 Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon, one of the auditors of the Island of St. Domingo, though possessed of wealth, honors, and domestic felicity, aspired to the glory of discovering some new land, and making it the seat of a prosperous colony. Having secured the necessary license, he despatched a caravel under the command of Fran- cisco Gordillo, with directions to sail northward through the Bahamas, and thence strike the shore of the continent. Gordillo set out on his exploration, and near the Island of Lucayoneque, one of the Lucayuelos, descried another caravel. His pilot, Alonzo Fernandez Sotil, proceeded toward it in a boat, and soon recognized it as a caravel commanded by a kinsman of his, Pedro de Quexos, fitted out in part, though not avowedly, by Juan Ortiz de Matienzo, an auditor associated with Ayllon in the judiciary. This caravel wasreturning from an unsuccessful cruise among the Bahamas for Caribs—the object of the expedition being to capture Indians in order to sell them as slaves. On ascertaining the object of Gordillo’s voyage, Quexos proposed that they should continue the exploration together. After a sail of eight or nine days, in which they ran little more than a hundred leagues, they reached the coast of the continent at the mouth of a considerable river, to which they gave the name of St. John the Baptist, from the fact that they touched the coast on the day set apart to honor the Precursor of Christ. The year was 1521, and the point reached was, accord- ing to the estimate of the explorers, in latitude 33° 30’.
Boats put off from the caravels and landed some twenty men on the shore; and while the ships endeavored to enter the river, these men were surrounded by Indians, whose good-will they gained by presents.
Some days later, Gordillo formally took possession of the country in the name of Ayllon, and of his associate Diego Caballero, and of the King, as Quexos did also in the name of his employers on Sunday, June 30, 1521. Crosses were cut on the trunks of trees to mark the Spanish occupancy.
Although Ayllon had charged Gordillo to cultivate friendly relations with the Indians of any new land he might discover, Gordillo joined with Quexos in seizing some seventy of the natives, with whom they sailed away, without any attempt to make an exploration of the coast.
On the return of the vessel to Santo Domingo, Ayllon condemned his captain’s act; and the matter was brought before a commission, presided over by Diego Colum- bus, for the consideration of some important affairs. The Indians were declared free, and it was ordered that they should be restored to their native land at the earliest possible moment. Meanwhile they were to remain in the hands of Ayllon and Ma- tienzo.?
Another account of this expedition is given by Peter Martyr,! from whom Gomara and nearly all subsequent writers copied it.
1 Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo,n, pp. 255-271.
2 Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, p. 32
3 Oviedo, Hist. Gen., m1, pp. 624-€33.
4 Herrera, Hist. Gen.,1, pp. 259-261.
5 Navarrete, Col., m, pp. 69-74.
6 Harrisse, Disc. of N. Amer., pp. 198-213
7Im Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist. Amer., 11, pp. 238-241. 8 Lowery, Span. Sett]., 1513-1561, pp. 153-157, 160-168.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 33
While it is not fortified with official documents like that of Shea it comes from a contemporary and one intimately acquainted with all of the principals and therefore deserves to be placed beside the other as an original source of information.
Some Spaniards, anxious as hunters pursuing wild beasts through the mountains and swamps to capture the Indians of that archipelago [the Bahamas], embarked on two ships built at the cost of seven of them. They sailed from Puerto de Plata situated on the north coast of Hispaniola, and laid their course towards the Lucayas. Three years have passed since then, and it is only now, in obedience to Camillo Gallino, who wishes me to acquaint Your Excellency with some still unknown particulars concerning these discoveries, that I speak of this expedition. These Spaniards visited all the Lucayas but without finding the plunder, for their neighbors had already explored the archipelago and systematically depopulated it. Not wishing to expose them- selves to ridicule by returning to Hispaniola empty-handed, they continued their course towards the north. Many people said they lied when they declared they had purposely chosen that direction.
They were driven by a sudden tempest which lasted two days, to within sight of a lofty promontory which we will later describe. When they landed on this coast, the natives, amazed at the unexpected sight, regarded it as a miracle, for they had never seen ships. At first they rushed in crowds to the beach, eager to see; but when the Spaniards took to their shallops, the natives fled with the swiftness of the wind, leaving the coast deserted. Our compatriots pursued them and some of the more agile and swift-footed young men got ahead and captured a man and a woman, whose flight had been less rapid. They took them on board their ships and after giving them clothing, released them. Touched by this generosity, serried masses of natives again appeared on the beach.
When their sovereign heard of this generosity, and beheld for the first time these unknown and precious garments—for they only wear the skins of lions and other wild beasts—he sent fifty of his servants to the Spaniards, carrying such provisions as they eat. When the Spaniards landed, he received them respectfully and cordially, and when they exhibited a wish to visit the neighborhood, he provided them with guide and an escort. Wherever they showed themselves the natives, full of admiration, advanced to meet them with presents, as though they were divinities to be worshipped. What impressed them most was the sight of the beards and the woolen and silk clothing.
But what then! The Spaniards ended by violating this hospitality. For when they had finished their explorations, they enticed numerous natives by lies and tricks to visit their ships, and when the vessels were quickly crowded with men and women they raised anchor, set sail, and carried these despairing unfortunates into slavery. By such means they sowed hatred and warfare throughout that peaceful and friendly region, separating children from their parents and wives from their husbands. Nor is this all. Only one of the two ships returned, and of the other there has been no news. As the vessel was old, it is probable that she went down with all on board, innocent and guilty. This spoliation occasioned the Royal council at Hispaniola much vexation, but it remained unpunished. It was first thought to send the prisoners back, but nothing was done, because the plan would have been difficult to realise, and besides one of the ships was lost.
These details were furnished me bya virtuous priest, learned in law, called the bache- lor Alvares de Castro. His learning and his virtues caused him to be named Dean of the Cathedral of Concepcion, in Hispaniola, and simultaneously vicar and inquisitor.
148061 °—22——3
34 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
Thus his testimony may be confidently accepted. .. . It is from Castro’s report and after several enquiries into this seizure that we have learned that the women brought from that region wear lions’ skins and the men wear skins of all other wild beasts. He says these people are white and larger than the generality of men. When they were landed some of them searched among the rubbish heaps along the town ditches for decaying bodies of dogs and asses with which to satisfy their hunger. Most of them died of misery, while those who survived were divided among the colonists of Hispaniola, _ who disposed of them as they pleased, either in their houses, the gold-mines, or their fields.
Farther on Peter Martyr gives Ayllon, ‘‘one of those at whose expense the two ships had been equipped,” and his Indian servant, Francisco of Chicora, as additional informants, and states that he had sometimes invited them to his table.
In 1523 Ayllon obtained a royal cédula securing to him exclusive right of settlement within the limits of a strip of coast on either side of the place where his subordinate had come to land. In 1525, being unable to visit the new land himself, in order to secure his rights he sent two caravels to explore his territory under Pedro de Quexos. ‘‘They regained the good will of the natives,” says Shea, ‘‘and explored the coast for 250 leagues, setting up stone crosses with the name of Charles V and the date of the act of taking possession. They returned to Santo Domingo in July, 1525, bringing one or two Indians from each province, who might be trained to act as interpreters.” 1 After considerable delay Ayllon himself sailed for his new government early in June, 1526, with three large vessels, 600 persons of both sexes, including priests and physicians, and 100 horses. They reached the North American coast at the mouth of a river calcu- lated by them to be in north latitude 33° 40’, and they called it the Jordan—from the name of one of Ayllon’s captains, it is said. Here, however, Ayllon lost one of his vessels, and his interpreters, including Francisco of Chicora, deserted him. Dissatisfied with the region in which he had landed and obtaining news of one better from a party he had sent along the shore, Ayllon determined to remove, and he seems to have followed the coast. The explorers are said to have continued for 40 or 45 leagues until they came to a river called Gualdape, where they began a settlement, which was called San Miguel deGualdape. The land hereabout was flat and full of marshes. The river was large and well stocked with fish, but the entrance was shallow and passable only at high tide. The colony did not prosper, the weather became severe, many sickened and died, and on October 18, 1526, Ayllon died also. Trouble soon broke out among the sur- viving colonists and finally, in the middle of a severe winter, those that were left sailed back to Hispaniola.’
Shea, op. cit., p. 240. 2Tbid., p. 241.
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 35
Such are the principal facts concerning the first Spanish explora- tions and attempts at colonization upon the coast of the Carolinas. Before giving the information obtained through them regarding the aborigines of the country and their customs it will be necessary to determine as nearly as possible the location of the three rivers men- tioned in the relations, the River of St. John the Baptist, the River Jordan, and the River Gualdape, an undertaking which has been attempted already in the most painstaking manner, by the historians Harrisse, Shea, and Lowery.'
So far as the River Jordan is concerned, there is scarcely the shadow of a doubt that it was the Santee. The identification is indicated by evidence drawn from a great many early writers, and practically demonstrated by the statements of two or three of the more careful navigators. Ecija, for instance, places its mouth in N. lat. 33° 11’, which is almost exactly correct.?, A very careful pilot’s description appended to the account of his second voyage puts it only a little higher. Furthermore, tribes that can be iden- tified readily as the Sewee and Santee are mentioned by him and they are on this river in the positions they later occupied. He states also, on the authority of the Indians, that a trail led from the mouth of it to a town near the mountains called Xoada, which is readily recognizable as the Siouan Cheraw tribe.2, Now, as Mr. Mooney has shown,’ and as all evidence indicates, the Cheraw were at this time at the head of Broad River. The Pedee or the Cape Fear would have carried travelers to the Cheraw miles out of their way. Finally it must be remembered that the name Jordan was applied to a certain river during the entire Spanish period in the Southeast. It had a definite meaning, and when the English settled the country Spanish cartographers were at no loss to identify their Jordan under its new English name, so that Navarrete says that ‘‘on some ancient maps there is a river at thirty-three degrees North, which they name Jordan or Santée.”’ * One of the reasons for uncer- tainty regarding it is the fact that the ancient Cape San Roman, from which the Jordan is frequently located, is not the present Cape Romain, but apparently Cape Fear, and is thus universally repre- sented as north of the Jordan instead of south of it. The argument could be elaborated at-length, but it is unnecessary. The burden of proof is rather on him who would deny the identification.
With regard to the other two rivers we have no such certain evi- dence, and their exact positions will probably always remain in doubt.
1 Op. cit. 3 Bull. 22, Bur. Amer. Ethn., p. 57. 2 Lowery, MSS., Lib. Cong. 4 Navarrete, Col., m1, p. 70.
36 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
e
The cédula issued to Ayllon places the newly discovered land in which was the River of St. John the Baptist in N. lat. 35°-37°,! but for anything like an exact statement we must depend entirely on the testimony of the pilot Quexos, who estimated that it lay considerably farther south, in N. lat. 33° 30’.2. It would therefore be somewhere in the immediate neighborhood of the Jordan, possibly that very stream. However, immediately after the statement of Navarrete quoted above, he adds, ‘‘to the northeast of that which they name Santee, at a distance of 48 miles, there is another river, which they eall Chico.”* This would at once suggest an identification of that stream with the Pedee, or with Winyah Bay, though of course where they enter the ocean the Santee and Pedee are much nearer together than 48 miles. JI am, however, inclined to suspect that “‘the river Chico”’ represented simply some cartographer’s guess as to the loca- tion of Chicora, and was not, as Navarrete seems to assume farther on, itself the original of the term Chicora.
The general position is, however, indicated by another line of evidence. It will be remembered that among the Indians carried. off by Gordillo and Quexos from the River of St. John the Baptist in 1521 was one who received the name Francisco of Chicora, who related such wonderful tales of the new country that many Spaniards, including the historian Oviedo, believed that no confidence could be reposed in him.‘ His remarkable story of tailed men, however, Mr. Mooney and the writer have been able to establish as an element in the mythology of the southern Indians, and enough of the ‘“ prov- inces”’ which he mentioned are identifiable to show that the names are not the pure fabrication which Oviedo supposed.
So far as I am aware there are but three original sources for the complete list of provinces—two in the Documentos Ineditos* and the third in Oviedo.* An equally ancient authority for part of them, however, is Peter Martyr.’ I give these in the following compara- tive table, and in addition the lists from Navarrete,’ and Barcia,? who had access to the original documents.
JNavarrete, Col., 01, p. 153; Doc. Ined., xxm, p. 79. ‘Shea in Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist., 1, p. 239. ‘Navarrete, Col., m1, p. 70.
4Oviedo, Hist. Gen., p. 628.
6 Vols. XIV, p, 506, and xxW, p. 82.
6 Hist. Gen., MI,.628.
7 Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, U1, pp. 259-261.
8 Navarrete, Col., ut, p. 154. » Barcia, La Florida, pp. 4-5.
oY. 's
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 87 No.| Doe. Ined. xIv|| ee Oviedo. Peter Martyr. Navarrete. sarcia. i | Duaché ........| Duache.....-. PUBNG ss ee Duhare or Du- | Suache......... Duaarhe. | harhe. Awenicorass. 3 | Clricora. ‘53. @hicorsis:2.2.- Chicora .| Chicora. .......| Chicora. 4152): | ADIT S S.8- o..4|| MADINA = = 5 - apinay.. 52 =-- 2 Xapira. RE ae aie ee Pita fm AR Ts Se El NE I cee ey ame) (PS eer Sei Ae ace 5 re RS Mibdhe sot ee eee ae Mipha-s. 25. Ytha. Tatancal ...... | Be EE ne 5 | ES hy SORE Ee Hee ES y Tatancal..... | date. 5 Sere Re Lys Th Se Se ee Daucal 2.2... RANCHO T. 2 re ge oe oh oo ak wate [BB Beeerecre sacar (Oe oe it ED eee Anan a ees is | eee eee |(---b2-----22--0- Anicatiya...... Subig (Cntr cated | PAR ale Ee aed Re a ee sic a et ee eET ES Ee vO |g. TES | ee eee || eee eee Wihes: tee. 2 || Tihie, Oo SASS EE Ae oe eee Tivecocayo eee ASC denne eon secre Bereoenace S| Cocayo...-.... =... GAVOs Stee Io as ios oeee Wise seen samcaente COPRBVOs cee oe an |Eaaae ce aelenieemeceis Jit leg cee bee aol Beda) ESE Bee aie eee Onotaihess.- -pyesas sete soko. Cohoth. 10 | Guacaya....... Quacaya...... Guacaya...... Guacaia....... Guacaya......- Xuacaya. AS <r by ee 2 ese MORI se | A ee D4i3.c Rae otae pee 3 oo ee PAROS ce ck. so <3" ] ome : SOMAS <2 cose eee sya semigeee see SONS assoeeciessc| eae t estas te aes 13 | Pasqui......... Wee ee thai Bi aaee CAPE eek Leesett PASQUictee tetee| Soceet scene ee ee 14 | Arambe........ Arambe......- ATranuls... 432% Arambe-....-- Arambe......-- Arambe. 15 | Xamunambe...| Xaminambe. .| Xamunanuc Xamunambe..| Xamunambe..-| Numunaunbe. 16 | Chuaque......- INUAO).,. -=220.2 MIAME ss oe < 2 skie aso = sere one < ELUAC scone | Rae a eee Wi>|" Danzaca...2_.< .|Tancaea:<....: Tanaca Tanzacca Tanzaca Tamceca 18 | Yenyochol..... Mmros. vies: MeriyOhol ess sa 5 a. settee Ven VOU 3; 258 |e eee see IGM Pag er. 322.5 Holpaos....... pahoe. ws. = Pahorsseee.nee i 24:70) ena Se ee rae Paor 20 | Amiscaron. .-.. Aunicoon..... WEMNISCAL OM 6 21 sas aise cts os,< a MAMISCALON! - <= |e= 3452 cee eee A OUR seks. S Oia. 2s: F522 OTe See ee eee |e me Pee MI OCe Yee were 8 at an | See EEE age es SH eo eee Se err esa ae ee ee CoriXayn=Siis wastes ese guanin. ACUI Sr et | PAE Fe Pee OOP PNET PSS ocene 5 Ynsiquanin . . A Imisipnanin. ==) Inzignanin’---|).o222 022202 ce - Ynsignavin. Graninet 345i 3 iessordlas Pacis ys3sp ee [2 eats pe saad og aa eek lesa 04 | aeee } 23 | Anoxa AMOS. Ade +. Pea Cc >. <2 ae [ee os ee SO ee ANOKA 2b) $4 | ate Coe ee
The variants of these names enable us, by comparing them with
one another, to determine the originals with considerable certainty in most cases, though some still remain in question. structed, the list would be something like this: Duhare or Duache, Chicora, Xapira or Xapida, Yta or Hitha, Tancal or Tancac, Anica, Tiye or Tihe, Cocayo, Quohathe, Guacaya, Xoxi, Sona, Pasqui,
Arambe,
Xamunambe, Huaque,
Tanzaca,
Yenyohol,
As recon-
Pahoc or
Paor, Yamiscaron, Orixa, Insiguanin or Inziguanin, Anoxa.
Yamiscaron without doubt refers to the Yamasee Indians, the
ending probably being a Siouan suffix, and the whole possibly the original of the name Yamacraw applied at a much later date to a body of Indians at the mouth of the Savannah. There can be little question also that Orixa is the later Spanish Orista, and English Edisto, Cogayo the Coosa Indians of the upper courses of the rivers
of lower South Carolina, or perhaps the town of
1See p. 58.
‘““Cogapoy
4
38 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BuLL. 73
and Xapira, or rather Xapida, Sampit. Pasqui is evidently the Pasque of Ecija, which seems to have been imland near the Waxaw Indians. The remaining names can not be identified with such probability, but plausible suggestions may be made regarding some of them. Thus Yta is perhaps the later Etiwaw or Itwan, Sona may be Stono, which sometimes appears in the form “Stonah,” and Guacaya is perhaps Waccamaw, gua in Spanish being frequently employed for the English syllable wa. If Pahoc is the correct form of the name of province 19 it may contain an explanation of the ‘“‘ Backbooks”’ mentioned by Lawson,’ supposing the form of the latter which Rivers gives, ‘‘Back Hooks,” is the correct one.’
Two facts regarding this list have particular importance for us in this investigation, first, the appearance of the phonetic 7 (in Duhare, Chicora, Xapira, Arambe, Yamiscaron, Orixa), and, second, that all of the provinces identified, all in fact for which an identification is even suggested, are in the Cusabo country or the regions in close contact with it. The first of these points indicates that Francisco came from one of the eastern Siouan tribes, while the second would show that he had considerable knowledge of the tribes south of them, and thus points to some Siouan area not far removed. Since this was also on the coast, the mouths of the Santee and Pedee are the nearest points satisfying the requirements. It is true that there is no lin Catawba, while two words ending in /—Tancal and Yenyohol— occur in the list; but these may have been taken over intact from Cusabo, or they may have been incorrectly copied, since Oviedo has Tancac for the first of them. Winyah Bay or the Pedee River would be indicated more definitely if Daxe, a town which the Indians told Ecija was four days journey north, or rather northeast, of the Santee, were identical with the Duache of the Ayllon colonists. But, how- ever interesting it might be to establish the location of the river of John the Baptist with precision, it makes no practical difference in the present investigation whether it was the Santee or one of those streams flowing into Winyah Bay. That it was one of them can hardly be doubted.
The third river to be identified, Gualdape, is the most difficult of all. This is due in the first place to an uncertainty as to which way the settlers moved when they left the River Jordan. Oviedo, who is our only authority on this point, says: ‘‘Despues que estovieron alli algunos dias, descontentos de la tierra é ydas las lenguas 6 guias que llevaron, acordaron de yrse 4 poblar la costa adelante hacia la costa occidental, é fueron 4 un grand rio (quarenta 6 quarenta 6
cinco leguas de alli, pocas més 6 menos) que se dice Gualdape; é alli
1 Lawson, Hist. Carolina, p. 45. 2 Rivers, Hist. S. Car, p. 35.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 89
assentaron su campo 6 real en la costa dél.”’? (“After they had been there for some days, being dissatisfied with the country and the interpreters or guides having left them, they decided to go and settle on the coast beyond, in the direction of the west coast; artd they went to a large river, 40 or 45 leagues from that place, more or less, called Gualdape; and there they established their camp or settlement on the coast.’’)' Navarrete interprets this to mean that they traveled north,? and he has been followed by both Harrisse* and Shea.* The last is confirmed in his opinion by the narrative of Ecija, which states that ‘““Guandape’’ was near where the English had estab- lished their settlement;*® consequently he carries Ayllon from the River Jordan all the way to Jamestown, in Virginia. It seems to the writer, however, that the ‘‘English settlement”? to which Ecija refers and which he places on an island must have been the Roanoke colony, although in Ecija’s time it had been abandoned 20 years. But in either case the distance from the mouth of the Pedee or Santee was too great to be described as ‘‘40 or 45 leagues. ”’
On the other hand, there are good reasons for believing that Ayllon did not move north after abandoning the River Jordan, but southwest. It is unfortunate that Oviedo’s words are not clearer, but it seems to the writer that the most natural interpretation of them is that the settlers followed the coast westward, which would actually be in this case toward the southwest. Lowery also comes to this conclusion, but since he starts them from a different point—the mouth of the Cape Fear River—he brings them no farther than the Pedee, our starting point. To what Oviedo tells us of this movement Nava- rrete adds the information, that the women and the sick were trans- ported thither in boats while the remainder of the company made their way by land.’ Lowery accepts this statement without ques- tion,’ but Navarrete is not an absolutely reliable authority. His information on this point can only have been drawn from unpub- lished manuscripts, and unless we have some means of substantiating it, it seems unsafe to assume a march of so many leagues when no reason is presented why the Spaniards should not have taken to their vessels. My belief is that they did so. But how much of the coast is embraced in these 40 or 45 leagues it is impossible to say, for often the ‘‘leagues’’ of these old relations are equivalent only to the same number of miles. Thus Gualdape might be anywhere from 40 to 135 miles away, somewhere between Charleston Harbor and the mouth of Savannah River.
Charleston Harbor itself seems to be excluded by the description of the bar at the mouth of the river of Gualdape which the vessels
! Oviedo, Hist. Gen., M1, p. 628. 6 Tbid., p. 285.
? Navarrete, Col., M1, p. 723. 6 Lowery, Span. Settl., 1, pp. 165-166. 3 Harrisse, Disc. of N. Amer., p. 213. 7 Navarrete, Col., 01, p. 72.
* Shea in Winsor, Narr. and Crit. Hist. Amer., 0, p. 240. 8 Lowery, op. cit.
40 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
could cross only at high tide—‘‘la tierra toda muy Ilana é de muchas ciénegas, pero el rio muy poderoso é de muchos é buenos pescados; é A la entrada dél era baxo,si con la cresciente no entraban los navios.”’ (“The land very flat and with many swamps, but the river very pow- erful and with many good fish, and at its entrance was a bar,so that the vessels could enter only at flood tide.’”’)!' If Navarrete is right in stating that the able-bodied men reached Gualdape by land I think we must make a very conservative interpretation of the 40 or 45 leagues and assume miles rather than leagues. This would not bring us farther than the neighborhood of Charleston Harbor. If, however, we take the distance given by Oviedo at its face value it carries us to the mouth of the Savannah. As a matter of fact we can not know absolutely where this river lay. It might have been the Stono, the North or South Edisto, the Coosawhatchie, the Broad, or some less conspicuous stream. All of these have offshore bars, and the channels into most are so narrow that they might not have been discovered by the explorers, who therefore supposed that the Gual- dape River could be entered only at high tide. But taking Oviedo’s two statements, regarding the distance covered and the size of the river, which was apparently of fresh water, I am inclined to believe the Savannah to have been the river in question, because there are two independent facts which tend to bear out this theory. In the first place the companions of De Soto when at Cofitachequi dis- covered glass beads, rosaries, and Biscayan axes, “from which they recognized that they were in the government or territory where the lawyer Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon came to his ruin.” So Ranjel.? Biedma says in substance the same,? but what the Fidalgo of Elvas tells us is more to the point: “In the town were found a dirk and beads that had belonged to Christians, who, the Indians said, had many years before been in the port, distant two day’s journey.’’* Now Cofitachequi has usually been placed upon the Savannah River, and ‘the port’? might naturally refer to that at its mouth. At all events two days’ journey would not take the traveler very far to the north or south of that river, nor is it likely that these European articles had gotten many miles from the place where they had been obtained. They might indeed have been secured from the navigators who conducted the first or the second expedition or from Ayllon when he was at “the River Jordan,” but on the first voyage the dealings with the natives were very brief, and no rela- tions with them seem to have been entered into while Ayllon and his companions were at the Jordan on their last voyage. It is also rather unlikely that so many Spanish articles should have reached the Savannah from the mouth of the Pedee. In fact this is pre-
1 Oviedo, Hist. Gen., Mm, p. 628. 3 Ibid., p. 14. 2 Bourne, Narr. of De Soto, I, p. 100. 4 Ibid., I, p. 67.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 41
cluded if the statement of the Indians quoted by Elvas is to be relied upon. The second expedition was a mere reconnoissance and the explorers do not seem to have stopped long in any one place. The most natural conclusion is that Cofitachequi was not far from the point where Ayllon had made his final and disastrous attempt at colonization, and, as I have said, Cofitachequi is not usually placed by modern students eastward of the Savannah. Secondly, the name Gualdape, containing as it does the phonetic 1, would seem not to have been in Siouan territory, but instead suggests a name or set of names very common in Spanish accounts of the Georgia coast. Thus Jekyl Island was known as Gualdaquini, and St. Catherines Island was called Guale, a name adopted by the Spaniards to designate the entire province. True, Oviedo seems to place Gualdape in N. lat. 33° or even higher,! but this was evidently an inference from the latitude given for the first landfall at the River Jordan and his supposition that the coast ran east and west. All things considered, it would seem most likely that the at- tempted settlement of San Miguel de Gualdape was at or near the mouth of Savannah River.
To sum up, then, if my identification of these places is absolutely, or only approximately, correct the River of St. John the Baptist and the River Jordan would be near the mouths of the Pedee and Santee, and any ethnological information reported by the Spaniards from this neighborhood would concern principally the eastern Siouan tribes, while Gualdape would be near the mouth of the Savannah, and any ethnological information from that neighborhood would apply either to the Guale Indians or to the Cusabo.
Regarding the Indians of Chicora and Duhare a very interesting and important account is preserved by Peter Martyr, who obtained a large part of it directly from Francisco of Chicora himself and the rest from Ayllon and his companions. This account has received less credence than it deserves because the original has seldom been - consulted, but instead Gomara’s narrative, an abridged and to some extent distorted copy of that of Peter Martyr, and still worse repro- ductions by later writers.2,_ Thus in the French translation of Gomara we read that the priests of Chicora abstained from eating human flesh (‘Ils ne mangent point de la chair humaine comme les autres’’), while the original simply says “they do not eat flesh (no comen earne).’’* The translation also informs us that the Chicoranos made cheese from the milk of their women (“Ils font du fromage du laict de leurs femmes’’), while the original states that they made
1 Oviedo, Hist. Gen., M1, p. 628. 3 Hist. Gen.. Paris, 1606, p. 53. 2 Gomara, Hist. de las Indias, chap. xLin, pp. 32-33. 4 Gomara, op. cit., p. 32.
49 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ BULL. 73
it from the milk of does.’ But even in his original narrative
Gomara has “improved upon’’ Peter Martyr, since he tells us that deer were kept in inclosures and sent out with shepherds, while Peter Martyr merely states that the young were kept in the houses and their mothers allowed to go out to pasture, coming back at night to their fawns (see below). Out of a not altogether impossible fact. we thus have a quite improbable story and utterly impossible accessories developed. Although, as I have endeavored to show, these people were probably Siouan, they were so near the Cusabo that influences could readily pass from one to the other, and for that reason and because the material has hitherto escaped ethnological investigators I will append it.
Leaving the coast of Chicorana on one hand, the Spaniards landed in another country called ‘‘ Duharhe.’’? Ayllon says the natives are white men,’ and his testimony is confirmed by Francisco Chicorana. Their hair is brown and hangs to their heels. They are governed by a king of gigantic size, called Datha, whose wife is as large as himself. They have five children. In place of horses the king is carried on the shoulders of strong young men, who run with him to the different places he wishes to visit. At this point I must confess that the different accounts cause me to hesitate. The Dean and Ayllon do not agree; for what one asserts concerning these young men acting as horses, the other denies. The Dean said: ‘I have never spoken to anybody who has seen these horses,’’ to which Ayllon answered, “I have heard it told by many people,’ while Francisco Chicorana, although he was present, was unable to settle this dispute. Could I act as arbitrator I would say that, according to the inves- tigations I have made, these people were too barbarous and uncivilized to have horses.* Another country near Duhare is called Xapida. Pearls are found there, and also a kind of stone resembling pearls which is much prized by the Indians.
In all these regions they visited the Spaniards noticed herds of deer similar to our herds of cattle. These deer bring forth and nourish their young in the houses of the natives. During the daytime they wander freely through the woods in search of their food, and in the evening they come back to their little ones, who have been — cared for, allowing themselves to be shut up in the courtyards and even to be milked, when they have suckled their fawns. The only milk the natives know is that of the does, from which they make cheese. They also keep a great variety of chickens, ducks, geese, and other similar fowls. They eat maize bread, similar to that of the islanders, but they do not know the yucca root, from which cassabi, the food of the nobles, is made. The maize grains are very like our Genoese millet, and in size are as large as our peas. The natives cultivate another cereal called xathi. This is believed to be millet but it is not certain, for very few Castilians know millet, as it is nowhere grown in Castile. This country produces various kinds of potatoes, but of small varieties.
The Spaniards speak of still other regions—Hitha, Xamunambe, and Tihe—all of which are believed to be governed by the same king. In the last named the inhabit-
1 Gomara, op. cit., p. 33; Fr. trans., p. 53.
2? The reader will observe in this narrative that the many wonderful things widely reported of Chi- cora really apply to Duhare.
3 Evidently Indians of lighter color.
‘ Peter Martyr makes the simple difficult. The custom was universal among southern tribes of carrying chiefs and leading personages about in litters borne on the shoulders of several men.
° Of course these statements are erroneous, but there may have been individual cases of domestication which furnished some foundation for such reports.
SWANTON] ~ EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 43
ants wear a distinctive priestly costume, and they are regarded as priests and vener- ated as such by their neighbors. They cut their hair, leaving only two locks growing on their temples, which are bound under the chin. When the natives make war against their neighbors, according to the regrettable custom of mankind, these priests are invited by both sides to be present, not as actors, but as witnesses of the conflict. When the battle is about to open, they circulate among the warriors who are seated or lying on the ground, and sprinkle them with the juice of certain herbs they have chewed with their teeth; just as our priests at the beginning of the Mass sprinkle the worshippers with a branch dipped in holy water. When this ceremony is finished, the opposing sides fall upon one another. While the battle rages, the priests are left in charge of the camp, and when it is finished they look after the wounded, making no distinction between friends and enemies, and busy themselves in burying the dead.! The inhabitants of this country do not eat human flesh; the prisoners of war are enslaved by the victors.
The Spaniards have visited several regions of that vast country; they are called Arambe, Guacaia, Quohathe, Tanzacca, and Pahor. The color of the inhabitants is dark brown. None of them have any system of writing, but they preserve traditions of great antiquity in rhymes and chants. Dancing and physical exercises are held in honor, and they are passionately fond of ball games, in which they exhibit the greatest skill. The women know how to spin and sew. Although they are partially clothed with skins of wild beasts, they use cotton such as the Milanese call bombasio,? and they make nets of the fiber of certain tough grasses, just as hemp and flax are used for the same purposes in Europe.
There is another country called Inzignanin, whose inhabitants declare that, accord- ing to the tradition of their ancestors, there once arrived amongst them men with tails a meter long and as thick asaman’sarm. This tail was not movable like those of the quadrupeds, but formed one mass as we see is the case with fish and crocodiles, and was as hard asa bone. When these men wished to sit down, they had consequently to have a seat with an open bottom; and if there was none, they had to dig a hole more than a cubit deep to hold their tails and allow them to rest. Their fingers were as long as they were broad, and their skin was rough, almost scaly. They ate nothing but raw fish, and when the fish gave out they all perished, leaving no descendants.* These fables and other similar nonsense have been handed down to the natives by their parents. Let us now notice their rites and ceremonies.
The natives have no temples, but use the dwellings of their sovereigns as such. As a proof of this we have said that a gigantic sovereign called Datha ruled in the prov- ince of Duhare, whose palace was built of stone, while all the other houses were built of lumber covered with thatch or grasses. In the courtyard of this palace, the Spaniards found two idols as large as a three-year-old child, one male and one female. These idols are both called Inamahari, and had their residence in the palace. Twice each year they are exhibited, the first time at the sowing season, when they are invoked to obtain successful result for their labors. We will later speak of the har- vest. Thanksgivings are offered to them if the crops are good; in the contrary case they are implored to show themselves more favorable the following year.
The idols are carried in procession amidst pomp, accompanied by the entire people. It will not be useless to describe this ceremony. On the eve of the festival the king has his bed made in the room where the idols stand, and sleeps in their presence. At daybreak the people assemble, and the king himself carries these idols, hugging them
! There is some confusion here. Evidently the reference is toa class of doctors or shamans who performed such offices, not to an entire tribe.
2 Probably this is a reference to the use of mulberry bark common among all southern tribes.
’ This is a native myth which Mr. Mooney has collected from the Cherokee, and I from the Alabama. Possibly it is a myth regarding the alligator from people who had only heard of that reptile.
44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY : [BULL. 73
to his breast, to the top of his palace, where he exhibits them to the people. He and they are saluted with respect and fear by the people, who fall upon their knees or throw themselves on the ground with loud shouts. The king then descends and hangs the idols, draped in artistically worked cotton stuffs, upon the breasts of two venerable men of authority. They are, moreover, adorned with feather mantles of various colors, and are thus carried escorted with hymns and songs into the country, while the girls and young men dance and leap. Anyone who stopped in his house or absented himself during the procession would be suspected of heresy; and not only the absent, but likewise any who took part in the ceremony carelessly and without observing the ritual. The men escort the idols during the day, while during the night the women watch over them, lavishing upon them demonstrations of joy and respect. The next day they were carried back to the palace with the same ceremonies with which they were taken out. If the sacrifice is accomplished with devotion and in conformity with the ritual, the Indians believe they will obtain rich crops, bodily health, peace, or if they are about to fight, victory, from these idols. Thick cakes, similar to those the ancients made from flour, are offered to them. The natives are convinced that their prayers for harvests will be heard, especially if the cakes are mixed with tears.!
Another feast is celebrated every year when a roughly carved wooden statue is car- ried into the country and fixed upon a high pole planted in the ground. This first pole is surrounded by similar ones, upon which people hang gifts for the gods, each one according to hismeans. At nightfall the principal citizens divide these offerings among themselves, just as the priests do with the cakes and other offerings given them by the women. Whoever offers the divinity the most valuable presents is the most honored. Witnesses are present when the gifts are offered, who announce after the ceremony what every one has given, just as notaries might doin Europe. Each one is thus stimulated by a spirit of rivalry to outdo his neighbor. From sunrise till evening the people dance round this statue, clapping their hands, and when nightfall has barely set in, the image and the pole on which it was fixed are carried away and thrown into the sea, if the country is on the coast, or into the river, if it is along a river’s bank. Nothing more is seen of it, and each year a new statue is made.
The natives celebrate a third festival, during which, after exhuming a long-buried skeleton, they erect a black tent out in the country, leaving one end open so that the sky is visible; upon a blanket placed in the center of the tent they then spread out the bones. Only women surround the tent, all of them weeping, and each of them offers such gifts as she can afford. The following day the bones are carried to the tomb and are henceforth considered sacred. As soon as they are buried, or everything is ready for their burial, the chief priest addresses the surrounding people from the summit of a mound, upon which he fulfills the functions of orator. Ordinarily he pronounces a eulogy on the deceased, or on the immortality of the soul, or the future life. He says that souls originally came from the icy regions of the north, where per- petual snow prevails. They therefore expiate their sins under the master of that region who is called Mateczungua, but they return to the southern regions, where another great sovereign, Quexuga, governs. Quexuga is lame and is of a sweet and generous disposition. He surrounds the newly arrived souls with numberless atten- tions, and with him they enjoy a thousand delights; young girls sing and dance, parents are reunited to children, and everything one formerly loved is enjoyed. The old grow young and everybody is of the same age, occupied only in giving himself up to joy and pleasure.?
1 This ceremony seems to correspond in intention to the Creek busk, but the form of it is quite different. 2 Compare with this the Chickasaw belief in a western quarter peopled by malevolent beings through which the soul passes to the world of the sky deity above.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 45
Such are the verbal traditions handed down to them from their ancestors. They are regarded as sacred and considered authentic. Whoever dared to believe differently would be ostracised. These natives also believe that we live under the vault of heaven; they do not suspect the existence of the antipodes. They think the sea has its gods, and believe quite as many foolish things about them as Greece, the friend of lies, talked about Nereids and othet marine gods—Glaucus, Phorcus, and the rest of them.
When the priest has finshed his speech he inhales the smoke of certain herbs, puffing it in and out, pretending to thus purge and absolve the people from their sins. After this ceremony the natives return home, convinced that the inventions of this impostor not only soothe the spirits, but contribute to the health of their bodies. ' Another fraud of the priests is as follows: When the chief is at death’s door and about to give up his soul they send away all witnesses, and then surrounding his bed they perform some secret jugglery which makes him appear to vomit sparks and ashes. It looks like sparks jumping from a bright fire, or those sulphured papers, which people throw into the air to amuse themselves. These sparks, rushing through the air and quickly disappearing, look like those shooting stars which people call leaping wild goats. The moment the dying man expires a cloud of those sparks shoots up 3 cubits high with a noise and quickly vanishes. They hail this flame as the dead man’s soul, bidding it a last farewell and accompanying its flight with their wailings, tears, and funereal cries, absolutely convinced that it has taken its flight to heaven. Lamenting and weeping they escort the body to the tomb.
Widows are forbidden to marry again if the husband has died a natural death;}! but if he has been executed they may remarry. The natives like their women to be chaste. They detest immodesty and are careful to put aside suspicious women. The lords have the right to have two women, but the common people have only one. The men engage in mechanical occupations, especially carpenter work and tanning skins of wild beasts, while the women busy themselves with distaff, spindle, and needle.
Their year is divided into 12 moons. Justice is administered by magistrates, criminals and the guilty being severely punished, especially thieves. Their kings are of gigantic size, as we have already mentioned. All the provinces we have named pay them tributes and these tributes are paid in kind; for they are free from the pest of money, and trade is carried on by exchanging goods. They love games, especially tennis;? they also like metal circles turned with movable rings, which they spin on a table, and they shoot arrows at a mark. They use torches and oil made from dif- ferent fruits for illumination at night. They likewise have olive-trees.2 They invite one another to dinner. Their longevity is great and their old age is robust.
They easily cure fevers with the juice of plants, as they also do their wounds, unless the latter are mortal. They employ simples, of which they are acquainted with a great many. When any of them suffers from a bilious stomach he drinks a draught composed of a common plant called Guahi,* or eats the herb itself; after which he immediately vomits his bile and feels better. This is the only medicament they use, and they never consult doctors except experienced old women, or priests ac- quainted with the secret virtues of herbs. They have none of our delicacies, and as they have neither the perfumes of Araby nor fumigations nor foreign spices at their disposition, they content themselves with what their country produces and live happily in better health to a more robust old age. Various dishes and different foods are not required to satisfy their appetites, for they are contented with little.
1 Probably with a time limitation like the Muskhogeans.
2 This, of course, refers to the great southern ball game.
3 Oil was extracted from acorns and several kinds of nuts. One of these is evidently intended. 4 Perhaps the Jler vomitoria from which the ‘‘black drink’’ was brewed.
46 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
It is quite laughable to hear how the people salute the lords and how the king responds, especially to his nobles. As a sign of respect the one who salutes puts his hands to his nostrils and gives a bellow like a bull, after which he extends his hands toward the forehead and in front of the face. The king does not bother to return the salutes of his people, and responds to the nobles by half bending his head toward the left shoulder without saying anything.
I now come to a fact which will appear incredible to your excellency. You already know that the ruler of this region is a tyrant of gigantic size. How does it happen that only he and his wife have attained this extraordinary size? No one of their subjects has explained this to me, but I have questioned the above-mentioned licenciate Ayllon, a serious and responsible man, who had his information from those who had shared with him the cost of the expedition. I likewise questioned the servant Francisco, to whom the neighbors had spoken. Neither nature nor birth has given these princes the advantage of size as an hereditary gift; they have acquired it by artifice. While they are still in their cradles and in charge of their nurses, experts in the matter are called, who by the application of certain herbs, soften their young bones. During a period of several days they rub the limbs of the child with these herbs, until the bones become as soft as wax. They then rapidly bend them in such wise that the infant is almost killed. Afterwards they feed the nurse on foods of a special virtue. The child is wrapped in warm covers, the nurse gives it her breast and revives it with her milk, thus gifted with strengthening properties. After some days of rest the lamentable task of stretching the bones is begun anew. Such is the explanation given by the servant, Francisco Chicorana.
The Dean of La Concepcion, whom | have mentioned, received from the Indians stolen on the vessel that was saved explanations differmg from those furnished to Ayllon and his associates. These explanations dealt with medicaments and other means used for increasing the size. There was no torturing of the bones, but a very stimulating diet composed of crushed herbs was used. This diet was given princi- pally at the age of puberty, when it is nature’s tendency to develop, and sustenance is converted into flesh and bones. Certainly it is an extraordinary fact, but we must remember what is told about these herbs, and if their hidden virtues could be learned I would willingly believe in their efficacy. We understand that only the kings are allowed to use them, for if anyone else dared to taste them, or to obtain the recipe of this diet, he would be guilty of treason, for he would appear to equal the king. It is considered, after a fashion, that the king should not be the size of everybody else, for he should look down upon and dominate those who approach him. Such is the story told to me, and I repeat it for what it is worth. Your excellency may believe it or not.
I have already sufficiently described the ceremonies and customs of these natives. Let us now turn our attention to the study of nature. Bread and meat have been considered; let us devote our attention to trees.
There are in this country virgin forests of oak, pine, cypress, nut and almond trees, amongst the branches of which riot wild vines, whose white and black grapes are not used for wine-making, for the people manufacture their drinks from other fruits. There are likewise fig-trees and other kinds of spice-plants. ‘The trees are improved by grafting, just as with us; though without cultivation they would continue in a wild state. The natives cultivate gardens in which grows an abundance of vegeta- bles, and they take an interest in growing their orchards. They even have trees in their gardens. One of these trees is called the corito, of which the fruit resembles a small melon in size and flavor. Another called guacomine bears fruit a little larger
than a quince of a delicate and remarkable odor, and which is very wholesome. They plant and cultivate many other trees and plants, of which I shall not speak further, lest by telling everything at one breath | become monotonous. !
1 Peter Martyr, De Orbe Novo, Il, pp. 259-269. .
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS AT
In this narrative there appears to be very little not based on fact. The sharp-tailed people are, as noted, still believed in by the southern Indians, from which we may infer that the story regarding them was known throughout the South. As to the receipts for making giants they are such as any Indian might believe efficacious and where great stature happened to follow assume that his treatment had been the efficient cause, and when it did not that the fault did not lie with the medicines. The notion that deer were herded and milked might very well have originated in the fact that the Spaniards encountered pet animals in certain of the villages they visited. The ceremonials described are the reverse of improbable. The reverence for a male and a female deity connected with sowing and harvesting would seem to be the result of a natural association of sexual processes with germination in the vegetable world; and the ceremonies over the bones of the dead recall what Lawson tells us of the separation of the flesh from the bones among the Santee and interment in mounds. It is a curious and interesting fact that, although the name Chicora appears most prominently in subsequent histories and charts, so as to give its name to a large part of the Carolinas, Peter Martyr, the original authority for most that has been said about that country, assigns it a very subordinate position. As already noted, the greater part of what he has to tell applies to Duhare, the second province visited by the Spaniards, and he seems to say that all of the provinces which he mentions! were subject to the king of Duhare and paid him tribute. At least he says as much for Hitha, Xamunambe, and Tihe. Of course no reliance can be placed upon tales of sub- jection and the exaction of tribute, but at least Duhare was plainly a very important country at that time, distinctly overshadowing Chi- cora. Whatissaid about the people of Tihe being, as it were, a race of priests is interesting, and may mean that they were of a differ- ent stock. It is probable that Inzignanin (or rather Inziguanin), the inhabitants of which told about the race of sharp-tails, was a province farther south than the others, perhaps in the Cusabo or Guale country, but so far it has been impossible to identify it. Chicora and Duhare were evidently upon the coast, but how far apart we donot know. Unfortunately Peter Martyr does not tell us whether the Spaniards turned north or south from Chicora in going to the latter province. We may feel pretty certain that both were in Siouan territory, but more than that we can not say with any degree of assurance.
For information regarding the people of Gualdape we must consult Oviedo. While, as we have said, the quotations made from Peter Martyr evidently apply to some of the eastern Siouan tribes, we now
1 See p: 43.
48 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
come to Indians almost certainly of Muskhogean stock. The follow- ing is Oviedo’s description:
The country of Gualdape, as well as from the river of Santa Elena toward the west, is all level. The Spaniards who came with the licentiate Ayllon did not see the vil- lages; they only met with a few isolated houses or cabins forming little hamlets, at great distances one from the other. Onsome of the small islands on the coast there are certain mosques or temples of those idolatrous people and many remains [bones] of their dead, those of the elders apart from those of the young people or children. They look like the ossuaries or burying places of the common people; the bodies of their principal people are in temples by themselves or in little chapels in another community and also on little islands. And those houses or temples have walls of stone and mortar (which mortar they make of oyster shells) and they are about one estado and a half in height,! the rest of the building above this wall being made of wood (pine). There are many pines there. There are several principal? houses all along the coast and each one of them must be considered by those people to be a village, for they are very big and they are constructed of very tall and beautiful pines, leaving the crown of leaves at the top. After having set up one row of trees to form one wall, they set up the opposite side, leaving a space between the two sides of from 15 to 30 feet, the length of the walls being 300 or more feet. As they intertwine the branches at the top and so in this manner there is no need for a tiled roof or other covering, they cover it all with matting interwoven between the logs where there may be hollows or open places. Furthermore they can cross those beams with other [pines] placed lengthwise on the inside, thus increasing the thickness of their walls. In this way the wall is thick and strong, because the beams are very close together. In each one of those houses there is easily room enough for 200 men and in Indian fashion they can live in them, placing the opening for the door where it is most convenient.’
Lower down Oviedo mentions ‘‘blackberries, which, being dried, the Indians keep to eat in the winter.’’* This is practically all the ethnological information which the historians of the Ayllon expedi- tions furnish. It is interesting to find the mat communal house, which does not appear to have been used by the Creeks, in existence so far south, but Oviedo is probably in error in representing the walls as constructed of living trees. The ossuaries described show that the custom of erecting them, so common along the lower Mississippi, extended eastward as far as the Atlantic.
Our next information regarding the Cusabo and their neighbors comes from the chroniclers of the French Huguenot expeditions to Carolina and Florida. The first of these left France February 18, 1562, under Jean Ribault, and after a voyage of two months made land at about 30° N. lat., in what is now the State of Florida. The explorers then turned north and after having some intercourse with the Indians at the mouth of the present St. Johns River, which they named the River May from the month in which it had been discovered, resumed their voyage northward along the coast. They observed the mouths of eight rivers, which they named in succession the Seine, Somme, Loire, Charente, Garonne, Gironde, Belle, and Grande, and
1 An estado is 1.85 yards. 3 Oviedo, Hist. Gen., M1, pp. 630-631. 2 In this case ‘‘ principal”? means great or large. 4 Ibid., p. 631.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 49
finally they entered the mouth of a broad river which ‘‘by reason of its beauty and grandeur’’ they called Port Royal. This was the inlet in South Carolina which still bears the name of Port Royal Sound, and here, before he returned to France, Ribault left a colony of 28 men, constructing for them a small fort near the modern Port Royal, South Carolina. Ribault himself then continued northeast along the coast for a short distance, but becoming alarmed at the numerous bars and shallows which he encountered and believing he had accomplished sufficient for one voyage, he returned to France. Meanwhile the settlers whom he had left finished their fort and then set out to explore the country. Very fortunately they placed them- selves on the best of terms with their Indian neighbors, from whom they obtained provisions sufficient for their sustenance, giving the Indians in exchange articles of iron and other sorts of merchandise. The building in which most of their provisions were kept was, how- ever, destroyed by fire, troubles broke out among them, and finally the survivors built a small vessel and left the country. On the voyage they ran short of provisions and some of them starved to death, but the survivors were at length rescued by an English vessel, and part of them ultimately reached France. \
From the story of these sur vayare recorded by Laudonniére' and the data on Le Moyne’s map? we are enabled to get an inter- esting glimpse of the number, names, and disposition of the tribes of this section in the year 1562, as also some important information regarding their ceremonies. From these sources it appears that on the west side of Broad River, opposite Port Royal Island, were four small tribes. The first encountered in going up is called by the French Audusta* or Adusta‘, the second Touppa*® or Toupa.*‘ Beyond this Le Moyne places Mayon,‘ omitting Hoya,’ the fourth, from his map entirely. From the order in which Laudonniére enumerates the tribes, however, it would seem probable that Hoya lay between Touppa and Mayon; at any rate it was in the immediate neighborhood. Farther toward the north, apparently on the chan- nel between Port Royal Island and the mainland, was Stalame.‘ These five, according to the chief, Audusta, were in alliance, or rather on terms of friendship, with each other.’ Farther along in the narrative we learn of a chief called Maccou living on the channels southwest of Port Royal Sound.* It should be noted that, following the feudal custom then prevalent in Europe, the chiefs in this narra- tive are given the names of their tribes. Yet more toward the south, beyond Maccou, lived two chiefs, said to be brothers. The
1 Hist. Not. de la Floride, pp. 15-59. 4 Le Moyne, op. cit. 3 Narr. of Le Moyne, map. 6 Laudonniére, op. cit., p. 41. 3 Laudonniére, op. cit., p. 42. 6 Ibid., p. 47,
148061 ° —22——_-4
50 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
nearer was named Ouadé, the more distant Couexis (Covexis).! According to the narrative of Laudonniére they found Ouadé on the river they had named “ Belle,’’ and, since messengers sent by Ouadé to Couexis for a quantity of provisions, returned with it very early the next day, it is evident that Couexis was only a short distance beyond.?, From what has already been said and from other parts of Laudonniére’s narrative it is evident that all these tribes except the two last mentioned were close friends, and we may suspect that they were related. Ouadé and Couexis, though not hostile to the others, seem to have stood apart from them, but there is no internal evidence that the languages of any of them differed in the slightest degree. Of the first group there seems little doubt that Audusta or Adusta was the tribe afterwards known as Edisto, although they were some distance from the river which now bears their name, the shores of which were apparently occupied by them at a later period.
The name Hoya does not occur in Carolina documents, but it is given by Ibarra, Vandera, and the missionary Juan Rogel in the forms Oya, Hoya, or Ahoya.* Vandera mentions another place near Ahoya called Ahoyabe, “a little town subject to Ahoya.’’® Maccou is the tribe which appears in these Spanish accounts as Escamacu or Uscamacu, ‘‘an island surrounded by rivers.’”’"* Touppa and Mayon can not be found in Spanish narratives, nor are we able to identify them with any names in the documents of South Caro- lina. Even in Laudonniére’s history they seem to occupy a sub- ordinate position, and it is probable that in Pardo’s time they had become united with the Orista, Escamacu, or Hoya. Very likely one of them is the Ahoyabe above noted. The failure of the Span- iards to mention Stalame may have a different meaning. This tribe lay somewhat apart from the others; away from the trail followed by Pardo in his various expeditions into the interior. Since we find in later times that the Audusta or Orista had affixed their name to Edisto River farther east it is possible that the Stalame had then moved still farther east, and I venture a guess, followig a con- jecture of Mooney, that they are the Stono of later colonial history. Of the two tribes lymg southward a complete continuity of infor- mation shows that Ouadé was the Guale of the Spaniards and the Wallie of the English, and therefore that their home was near and gave its name to St. Catherines Island on the Georgia coast. Couexis would then apply to one of the Guale tribes or towns unless we are to discern in it an ancient form of the name Coosa.
1 Laudonniére, Hist. Not. de la Floride, p. 47.
2 Thid., pp. 48, 51-52.
3 See p. 18.
4 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 188; Ruidiaz, La Florida, 11, pp. 304, 481.
5 Ruidiaz, La Florida, 0, p. 481.
6 Ibid., pp.304, 481. Also spelled Escamaqu, Eescamaqu, Escamaquu, Escamatu, Camacu, and Camaqu (see p. 21).
fad
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS ok
This identification of Ouadé is important because it enables us to fix with something approaching certainty the location of the rivers and islands named by Ribault. Researches among documents from Spanish sources have enabled the writer to determine with even greater accuracy the equivalent names applied by the Spaniards, and as this information will be of some value both to future ethnolo- gists and future historians, as well as of immediate utility in the present bulletin, it is mcorporated in the subjomed table. The names in this table run from south to north, beginning with the coast north of St. Augustine, Fla. The French ‘‘rivers’”’ are practically identical with the bays, sounds, and entrances of Spanish, English, and American writers, although, indeed, one or more rivers falls into
each of these.
GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES FROM St. AUGUSTINE TO CAPE FEAR
FRENCH.
R. de Sarauahi (or Serranay), called R. Halimacani and (mis- takenly?) R. Somme in the Gourgues narrative.
Tle de May.
Riviére Seine.
Le de la Seine.
Riviére Somme (called Aine by Le Moyne).
Tle de la Somme.
Riviére Loire.
lle de la Loire. Riviére Charente. Le de la Charente. Riviére Garonne. Ile de la Garonne. Riviére Gironde. Tle de la Gironde. Riviére Belle.
Ile de la Riviére Belle. Riviére Grande. Tle dela Riviére Grande.
(See Ile de la Riviére Grande above.)
Riviére de Port Royal.
lle de Port Royal.
Riviére de Belle Voir (?).
Ile de Belle Voir (?).
Cap Roman.
SPANISH.
Isla de Santa Cruz.
Rio de San Mateo.
Isla de San Juan.
Bahia de Sant Maria (or B. de Sarauahi).
Isla de Santa Maria.
Bahia de San Pedro (or Tacata- curu).
Isla de San Pedro (or Tacatacuru).
Bahia de Ballenas (“Bay of whales’’).
Isla de Gualequini (or Obalda- quini).
Bahia de Gualequini.
Isla de Asao (or Talaxe).
Bahia de Asao (or Talaxe).
Bahia de Espogue.
Isla de Sapala.
Bahia de Sapala.
Isla de Santa Catarina (or Guale).
Bahia de Santa Catarina (or Cofo- nufo).
Isla de Asopo.
Bahia de Asopo.
Bahia de la Cruz (or de las Cruces).
Rio Dulee.
Bahia de los Baxos (‘Bay of shoals’’).
Isla de los Osos (‘‘Island of bears’’).
Bahia de Santa Elena.
Isla de Santa Elena.
Bahia de Orista.
Bahia de Ostano.
Bahia de Cayagua.
Rio Jordan.
Rio de San Lorenzo (also Rio de Chico, perhaps also Rio de San Juan Bautista).!
Cabo Romano.
ENGLISH.
Coast land north of St. Augustine. River St. Johns.
Talbot Island.
Nassau Sound,
Amelia Island. St. Marys River.
Cumberland Island. St. Andrews Sound.
Jekyl Island.
St. Simon Sound.
St. Simon Island. ’ Altamaha Sound. Wolf Island.
Doboy Sound.
Sapelo Island.
Sapelo River.
St. Catherines Island. St. Catherines Sound,
Ossabaw Island.
Ossabaw Sound.
Great Wassaw Island (or Hilton Head Island).
Wassaw Sound.
Savannah River.
Tybee Roads.
Hilton Head Island.
Port Royal Sound.
St. Helena Island.
St. Helena Sound.
Edisto Island.
North Edisto River.
Charleston Harbor.
Santee River.
Winyaw Bay (and Pedee River).
Cape Fear.
1 See pp. 35-36,
52 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
The French names of the coast islands are for the most part inferred from a statement by Ribault to the effect that the island (or the land assumed by him to be an island) was given the same name as the river immediately south of it.'. Not having access to his chart, I have been unable to check up the identification of these islands. In his narrative, or the translations of it available, the Garonne is omitted from the list of rivers,’ but I am inclined to believe this is accidental. Le Moyne makes another innovation by substitutimg the name Aine [Aisne] for Somme.? The writer would have attributed this to a mere blunder were it not that in the narra- tive of the Gourgues expedition the name Somme is applied to a stream between the ‘‘Seine”’ (St. Marys) and the ‘‘May” (St. Johns), probably the Sarauahi of other French writers, the present Nassau.’ Therefore it is possible that some change in nomenclature was made by certain of the French explorers.
Just north of the River Grande Ribault and his companions encoun- tered bad weather which made it necessary for them to put out to sea. When they cameshoreward again the vessel in which Laudonniére sailed discovered another river, which they named Belle & Veoir, or Belle Voir. Le Moyne gives this as a river encountered south of Port Royal, but his text is based on Laudonniére and on a misunder- standing of that, so that it may be discarded as authority. For instance, where Laudonniére says that from the River Grande they explored northward toward the River Jordan, Le Moyne has it that they reached that river, and he places it between the Grande and “Belle Voir.” * On his map, however, the Belle Voir does not appear, the Grande being next to Port Royal, and the Jordan is correctly located north of the latter place. The fact of the matter appears to be this. After leaving Ossabaw Sound and having been forced to sea by stormy weather, Ribault’s vessel passed northward of Broad River, discovered one of the rivers flowing into St. Helena Sound and named it Belle Voir. But in the meantime one of his other ships had gotten into Broad River, and when it rejoined the rest informed Ribault of the great advantages of that inlet, with the result that they turned back and made their settlement there. Therefore in Ribault’s narrative the River Belle Voir is placed north of Port Royal. Later, when the colonists sent men to Ouadé asking for food, they came upon a river of fresh water 10 leagues from their fort. This is the
1 French, Hist. Colls. La., 1875, 2d ser., m, p. 183.
2 Le Moyne, Narr., descr. of illus., p. 2.
3 Laudonniére, Hist. Not. de la Floride, p. 211; French, Hist. Colls. La., 1869, 2d ser., 1, pp. 350-351; Thid., 1875, 2d ser., 1, p. 279. The Gourgues narratives give the native name of this stream as Halimacani, after a Timucua chief whose town was near the mouth of the St. Johns on the north side, while St. George Inlet, or a stream flowing into it, is called Sarabay, the Sarrauahi of earlier French writers. As indicated above, I believe the last-mentioned name was originally applied to Nassau Inlet.
4 Narr. of Le Moyne, desc, of illus., p. 2.
6 SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 53
River Dulce of Le Moyne—on his map erroneously inserted between the Rivers Grande and Belle—and in all probability is identical with Savannah River.
The only remaining tribal name mentioned by Laudonniére is Chiquola,' but the circumstances under which it was obtained render its ethnographical value very slight. Being familiar with some of the narratives of the Ayllon expedition in which Chicora is given con- siderable prominence, Laudonniére inquired of the Indians whom he met regarding it. He was entirely unacquainted with their language but understood that they were trying to tell him that Chi- quola was the greatest lord of all that country, that he surpassed themselves in height by a foot and a half, and that he lived to the north in a large palisaded town. Later he tells us that the fact of the existence of such a chief and his great power were confirmed by those who were left to form a settlement. If there is any truth in this story and the Indians were not simply telling what they thought the explorers would like to hear, the great town was probably that of the Kasihta.’
In 1564 a Spanish vessel was sent from Habana to find the French and root them out, and the narrative of this expedition states that there were said to be 17 towns around the Bay of Santa Elena. A town called Usta is mentioned, evidently identical with Audusta, and another town, not elsewhere recorded, called Yanahume.? In the former was a Frenchman who had remained in the country rather than take chances in the small vessel in which his companions had ventured forth.
The same year Laudonniére again sailed for America, but this time the Frenchmen decided to settle upon St. Johns River, Florida, and they did not return to Port Royal. The year following their new settlement was destroyed by the Spaniards under Menéndez, and French attempts to colonize the Carolinas and Florida came to an end.
In a letter written shortly after his conquest, Menéndez states that he had heard that the elder brother of Ribault with the survivors from the French garrison “had gone 25 leagues away, toward the north, to a very good port called Guale, because the Indians of that place were his friends, and that there were within 3 or 4 leagues 40 villages of Indians belonging to two brothers, one of whom was: named Cansim and the other Guale.’’* In Cansin and Guale we of course recognize, in spite of changes and corruptions in orthography, Couexis and Ouadé. In the spring of 1566 Menéndez sailed north- ward himself and reached Guale, where he was informed by a French refugee that Guale and Orista were at war with each other and that
‘ Laudonniére, Hist. Not. de la Floride, pp. 29-31. 3 Lowery, MSS. in Lib. Cong. *See p. 219. 4 Ruidiaz, La Florida, 0, p. 145.
54 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
the people of Guale had captured two men belonging to those of Orista. Menéndez prevailed upon the Guale chief to make peace with his northern neighbor, who is said to have been the more power- ful of the two—the advantage which had been gained over him having been due to the French refugees at Guale. Then, taking the two Orista captives with him, and leaving two Spaniards as hostages, Menéndez kept on toward the north and finally entered Broad River. There he found that the town of Orista, which is of course identical with the French Audusta, had been burned and the inhabit- ants were starting to rebuild it. The Indians met him at first in no friendly spirit, but through the mediation of his two captives he soon placed himself upon good terms with them, and they sent to all the surrounding villages to summon the chiefs and people to come to see him. ‘They lighted great fires, brought many shellfish, and a great multitude of Indians came that night, and three chiefs who were subject to Orista; they counselled him that he should go to another village a league from Orista, where many other chiefs would come to see him.” The next day Orista himself and two more chiefs came, along with other Indians. ‘‘Many Indians came laden with corn, cooked and roasted fish, oysters, and many acorns,” and the Spanish leader on his side brought out biscuits, wine, and honey. After the feast ‘‘they placed the Adelantado in the seat of the chief, and Orista approached him with various ceremonies, and took his hands; after- wards the other chiefs and Indians did the same thing—the mother and relatives of the two slaves whom they had brought from Guale wept for joy. Afterwards they began to sing and dance, the chiefs and some of the principal Indians remaining with the Adelantado; and the celebration and rejoicing lasted until midnight, when they retired.’’ Later the Spaniards returned to the village of Orista itself, where they were again hospitably entertained. “In the morn- ing the chief took the Adelantado to a very large house, and placed him in his seat, gomg over with him the same ceremony that had been performed in the first village.’”’ The Spaniards were presented with well-tanned deerskins and some pearls, although these were of little value, because they had been burned. At Menéndez’s request the chief showed him a site suitable for a fort, which was begun forth- with and received the name of San Felipe. On his way back Menén- dez was able to make such an impression on the Indians of Guale, who believed that the cross he had set up in their town had been instrumental in breaking a long drought, that they desired to have Christians left with them and inside of the islands along the Georgia coast many Indians came down to the shore to beg for crosses. Barcia states that a bolt of lightning having fallen on a tree near the cross which had been set up at Guale ‘‘ the Indians, men and women, all ran to the place and picked up the splinters in order to keep
SWANTON J EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS aD
them in their houses as relics.’”’' The island of Guale, as already stated, was St. Catherines Island. It is described in the narrative which we have just quoted as ‘‘about 4 or 5 leagues in diameter.”’ In August Menéndez again visited Fort San Felipe and Guale, but his stay was short. Finding the garrison at the former place in serious straits for food, he directed Juan Pardo to take 150 soldiers inland ‘and quarter them at intervals upon the natives. While there are several accounts of this and subsequent expeditions undertaken by Pardo into the interior, the only one that concerns us here is a Rela- tion by Juan de la Vandera, in command of the post at San Felipe, which sets forth ‘‘the places and what sort of land is to be found at each place among the provinces of Florida, through which Captain Juan Pardo, at the command of Pero Menéndez de Avilés, entered to discover a road to New Spain, from the point of Santa Elena of the said provinces, during the years 1566 and 1567.’ The first part of this is of considerable importance for our study of the Cusabo tribe. It runs as follows:
He started from Santa Elena with his company in obedience to orders received and on that day they went to sleep at a place called Uscamacu, which is an island surrounded by rivers. Its soil is sandy and makes very good clay for pottery, tiles, and other necessary things of the kind; there is good ground here for planting maize and grapevines, of which there is an abundance.
From Uscamacu he went straight to another place called Ahoya, where they stopped and spent the night. This Ahoya is an island; some parts of it are surrounded by rivers, others look like mainland. It is good or at least reasonably good soil where maize grows and also big vine stocks with runners.
From Ahoya he went to Ahoyabe, a small village, subject to Ahoya and in about the same kind of country.
From Ahoyabe he went to another place, which is calléd Cozao, which belongs to a rather great cacique and has a lot of good land like the others, and many strips of stony ground, and where maize, wheat, oats, grapevines, all kinds of fruit and vege- tables, can be grown, because it has rivers and brooks of sweet water and reason- ably good soil for all.
From Cozao he went to another small place which belongs to a chieftain (cacique) of the same Cozao; the land of this place is good, but there is little of it.
From here he went to Enfrenado,’ which is a miserable place, although it has many corners of rich soil like the others.
From Enfrenado he went to Guiomaez from where to the cape of Santa Elena there are forty leagues. The road by which he went is somewhat difficult, but the land or soil is good and everything that is grown in Cozao can be cultivated here and even more and better; there are great swamps, which are deep, caused by the great flatness of the country.*
Uscamacu, where Pardo spent the first night, is certainly identical with the Maccou of the French, and would thus be somewhere to the southwest of Broad River. Pardo and his company were prob- ably set across to the neighborhood of this place in boats from Fort
! Barcia, La Florida, pp. 104-110.
2 Ruidiaz, La Florida, 0, pp. 451-486.
3 This word would mean ‘‘bridled” in Spanish. It may be a native term but does not look like one. 4 Translation by Mrs. F. Bandelier.
56 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [RULL. 73
San Felipe, unless the site ordinarily assigned to the fort is errone- ous.'. From Uscamacu they marched northwest along Broad River and then up the Coosawhatchie. The first stopping place after leaving Uscamacu was Ahoya, the Hoya of the French, one of those tribes or villages allied with Audusta. Ahoyabe would probably be an out settlement from Ahoya and hence belong to the same group. In the name of the next place, Cozao, we have the second historical mention ? of the Coosa tribe of South Carolina, which occu- pied the upper reaches of the Coosawhatchie, Combahee, Ashepoo, Edisto, and Ashley Rivers, the first notice having been in the list of provinces given by Francisco of Chicora. The greater power ascribed to this chief agrees with our later information regarding the prominence of his people. From the narrative it is evident that the next place where the Spaniards stopped was also a Coosa village. The last two places may have been Coosa towns also, but there is no means of knowing. It has been suggested that Guiomaez was perhaps the later Wimbee, but, if so, the tribe must have moved nearer the coast before the period of English colonization, when they were between Combahee and Broad Rivers. The next place, Canos, 10 leagues from Guiomaez, was identical with the Cofitachequi of De Soto and probably with the later Kasihta town among the Creeks.®
Barcia mentions as one result of the Florida settlements the dis- covery of an herb of wonderful medicinal qualities, which was in all probability the nut grass (Cyperus rotundus). He says:
The Spaniards discovered in this land some long roots, marked like strings of beads, so that each portion cut off remains rounded; outside they are black and within white and dry, hard like bones; the bark is so hard that one can scarcely remove it. The taste is aromatic, so that it appears to be a specific; the galanga is like it. The plant which produces it throws out short shoots, and spreads its branches along the ground; its leaves are very broad, and very green; it is warm (or heated) at the limit of the second degree, dries at the beginning of the first; it grows in moist situations: The Indians use the plant, crushed between two stones, to rub over their entire bodies, when they bathe themselves, because they say that it tightens and strengthens the flesh, with the good odor, which it has, and that they feel much improved on account of it. They also use it in the form of a powder, for pains in the stomach.
The Spaniards learned of this from the Indians, and they used it for the same pur- poses, and afterwards they discovered that it was an admirable specific for colic (or pain in the side), and urinary trouble, since it causes the stones to be driven out, even though they are very large. Other virtues were discovered, its estimation growing so much among the soldiers, that they all carried rosaries of these beads, which they called ‘‘of Santa Elena” on account of the great abundance of these
which there are in the marshy places at the Cape of Santa Elena and province of Orista and the neighboring parts.*
1 Lowery, Span. Settl., 0, pp. 438-440.
°If Couexis be excepted.
®See pp. 216-218.
‘Barcia, La Florida, p. 133. See Lowery, Span. Settl., 1, p. 381.
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS |
In 1569 the Jesuit missionary Juan Rogel arrived at Santa Elena, and at the same time Antonio Sedefio and Father Baez proceeded to Guale. In a letter written by Rogel to Menéndez, December 9, 1570, he relates the fortunes, or rather misfortunes, of his work among the people of the province of Orista.
In the beginning of my relations with those Indians [he says], they grew very much in my eyes, for seeing them in their customs and order of life far superior to those of Carlos, I lauded God, seeing each Indian married to only one woman, take care of and cultivate his land, maintain his house and educate his children with great care, seeing that they were not contaminated by the most abominable of sins, not incestuous, not cruel, nor thieves, seeing them speak the truth with each other, and enjoy much peace and righteousness. Thus it seemed to me we were quite sure of them and that probably I would take a longer time in learning their language in order to explain to them the mysteries of our Holy Faith than they would need to accept them and become Christians. Therefore I myself and three more of the fathers of our company studied with great diligence and haste to learn it and within six months I spoke to them and preached in their tongue.
But after two and a half months the time for gathering acorns ar- rived, and all left him and ‘‘scattered through those forests, each one to his own place, and came together only at certain feasts, which they held every two months, and this was not always in one _ place, but at one time here and at another in another place, etc.’’ In fact they lived scattered in this manner for nine months out of the year.
And there are two reasons for this [he says]: First because they have been accus- tomed to live in this manner for many thousands of years, and to try to get them away from it looks to them equal to death; the second, that even if they wished to live thus the land itself does not allow it—for being so very poor and miserable and its strength very soon sapped out—and therefore they themselves state that this is the reason why they are living so disseminated and changing their abode so often.
Rogel endeavored to continue his work, attending the infrequent gatherings mentioned above whenever he was able. At one time he spoke to the greater part of ‘‘the vassals of Orista”? who had come together at the Rio Dulce, presumably the Savannah, and in the spring he proposed that they plant enough ground so that they could remain in one place, where he could approach them more easily. This was done, but all except two families soon left, and later Vandera, commander of the fort of San Felipe, was compelled to exact several canoe loads of corn from the Indians and to quarter some of his troops among them. This, as Rogel anticipated and as the event proved, incensed the Indians so much that further missionary efforts on his part were out of the question, and on July 13, 1570, he left them to return to San Felipe, which he soon afterwards abandoned for Habana. One main cause of Rogel’s failure to impress these people was evidently a misapprehension on his part, for he says that when he began to preach against the devil they were highly offended, declaring that he was good, and afterwards they all left him. Pre-
58 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
sumably they understood that an attack had been made on one of their own deities, and very likely Rogel was perfectly willing on his side to identify the prince of evil with any or all of them. Among the chiefs upon whom Vandera levied the above-mentioned tribute of corn Rogel mentions Escamacu, Orista, and Hoya, the first of whom is of course the Uscamacu of Vandera and Pardo.1
In 1576 the Indian policy which had caused Rogel’s withdrawal brought on a rebellion. Most narratives attribute this to an attempt to levy a contribution of provisions on Indians near Fort San Felipe, but from one very trustworthy document it appears that it was at least brought to a head by the arbitrary conduct of a Capt. Solis, left temporarily in charge of the above-mentioned post by Hernando de Miranda. This man killed two Indians, seemingly without suffi- cient cause, one a chief named Hemalo, who had been in Madrid. In July of that year, the garrison of Fort San Felipe being short of pro- visions, and the Indians having refused to give them any, the Alférez Moyano was sent at the head of 22 men to take some by force. The Indians, however, persuaded Moyano to have his men extinguish the matches with which their guns were fired, on the ground that their women and children were afraid they were going to be killed, and as soon as they had done so the Indians fell upon them and killed all . except a soldier named Andrés Calderén. This took place July 22. Testimony taken in St. Augustine in 1600 gives the name of the tribe concerned as Camacu (i. e., Escamacu)? but contemporary letters, which are probably correct, call it ““Oristau”’ or ‘Oristan.”” Calde- ron reached the fort in three days and gave the alarm. Meanwhile “the Provinces of Guale, Uscamacu, and Oristau’’ had risen in revolt. News reached Hernando de Miranda and he returned at once to Santa Elena. Capt. Solis was then dispatched against the Indians, but he was ambushed and killed along with eight soldiers. The Indians to the number, according to one Spanish narrative, of 2,000 then besieged the fort, and they killed several Spaniards besides, including an interpreter named Aguilar. One account says that 32 men were slain, but it does not appear whether this included Moyano’s force or not. Among those lost were the factor, auditor (contador), and treasurer. Finally the Spaniards were withdrawn to St. Augustine and the Indians entered the fort and burned it. It was restored shortly under the name of Fort San Marcos, and in 1579 Governor Pedro Menéndez Marqués visited the place to pay the troops and incidentally to take revenge on the neighboring hostiles. He attacked a fortified town named Co¢gapoy, 20 leagues from Fort San Marcos, strongly placed in a swamp and occupied by Indians said never to have been willing to make peace with the Spaniards. The town was severely handled, a number of Indians, including a
1 Ruidiaz, La Florida, 1, pp. 301-308. 2 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 147.
SWANTON | EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 59 sister of the chief, his mother, a° son, and the son’s wife, were captured, and 40 Indians were burned in their houses. Menéndez liberated most of his male captives and exchanged the women for some Frenchmen, who were largely blamed for the uprising, and most of whom were subsequently executed.
In 1580 a new uprising occurred, again attributed to the French. In fact, shortly before, a French vessel was captured near the mouth of the St. Johns and two others belonging to the same fleet were known to have entered the bay of Gualequini and to have opened com- munication with the natives. Indian witnesses also testified that they had been promised assistance from a new French armada shortly to appear. Fort San Marcos was evidently abandoned, or captured by the Indians, at this time and was not reestablished until late in 1582 or early in 1583. A letter dated July 19, 1582, says that the Indians of the Province of Santa Elena had rebelled and ‘‘there was no rem- edy for it.”’ In 1583, however, Governor Menéndez writes that all of the Indians—both inland and on the coast—had come to see him and to yield obedience and that the chief of Santa Elena ‘‘has done a great deal, as he was the first to embrace the faith.’’ Fort San Marcos may have received still another name, for a document of the period refers to it as ‘‘Fort Catuco.”’ In 1586 Gutiérrez de Miranda, who was prominent in a war against the Potano Indians of Florida, was in command of the Santa Elena fort. Late in 1587, however, or very early in 1588, it was finally abandoned and the garrison with- drawn.'
In a letter written to the king, February 23, 1598, Gongalo Mendez de Can¢co, Governor of Florida, states that the chief of Kiawa had accompanied the chief of Escamacu to war against the Indians of Guale and they had taken seven scalps.? In another, written the day following, he mentions, among the chiefs who had come to St. Augustine “to give their submission”’ to him, ‘‘the chief of Aluste”’ and ‘“‘the chief of Aobi.”’*? I have not found a later mention of Aobi, but the name Aluste occurs several times in Spanish docu- ments, spelled Alieste, Alueste, and Aluete. That it was to the north is shown by a statement to the effect that in the massacre of monks, which had taken place the preceding year, all of those between Aluste and Asao had been killed.t| More specific information is contained in the relation of a visit which Governor Pedro de Ibarra made to the Indians along the Georgia coast in November and Decem- ber, 1604. The northernmost point reached by him was Guale (St. Catherines Island), where, besides calling together the Guale chiefs,
! The information contained in this paragraph, except as otherwise noted, is principally from the Lowery, Brooks, and Wright manuscripts in the Library of Congress. 2 Lowery and Brooks, MSS., Lib. Cong.
‘Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 135. 4 Ibid., p. 186.
60 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
“he commanded that within ‘two days should assemble all the micos of Oya and Alueste and other chiefs from the country around.”’! In Oya we recognize the Cusabo town already mentioned, and we learn just below that Alueste was in the same province; for, when Ibarra inquired of the assembled chiefs if any of them had any complaints to make, “the chief of Aluete said that the chief of Talapo and the chief of Ufalague and the chief of Orista, his nephew and heirs, were his vassals and had risen and gone to live with the mico of Asao.’’?
When Ibarra returned to Asao he interviewed these chiefs, and he states that they admitted the truth of what Alueste had said, adding that they had done so ‘‘because he was a bad Indian and had a bad heart, and he gave them many bad words, and for that reason they had withdrawn and were obeying the chief of Orista, who was the heir of the said Alueste, and was a good Indian and treated them well, and gave them good words.’ The governor, however, exacted a promise from them that they would “return to their obedience,”’ to which they agreed. It is sufficiently evident from this that all of the tribes mentioned were Cusabo, whether Alueste and Orista are or are not variants of the later Edisto. Re- sponsibility for the murder of the missionaries in 1597 was laid by one of the captured Indians on the Indians of Cosahue (Cosapue), the Salchiches (an unidentified tribe living inland), the Indians of Tulufina (a Guale town), and those of Santa Elena. The chiefs of Ufalague and Sufalete are said to have killed Fray Pedro de Corpa, and the Ufalague and Alueste assisted in disposing of Fray Blas, but, on the other hand, the chief of Talapo saved the life of Fray Davila, the only missionary to escape. At a later date, by a comfortable volte-face not unusual with Indians, those of Cosapue and Ufalague, together with those of Talapo, helped punish the murderers.*
From about the time of this massacre we begin to find the name Escamacu used for the Indians of Santa Elena in preference to Orista. In the report of his expedition of 1605, Ecija speaks of the chief of Escamacu as ‘‘the principal of that land”’ (i. e., the land of Santa Elena), and he places “the bar of Orista” 6 leagues north of that of Santa Elena, where is the River Edisto. Nevertheless the name had become fixed upon it at a much earlier period for in a letter of Bartélome de Arguelles, of date 1586, the bay of Orista is said to be beyond that of Santa Elena to the north, 5 leagues.* It is evident, therefore, that whatever temporary changes had taken place in the residence of portions of the Edisto tribe, changes such as are indicated in Ibarra’s letter, a part of them, probably the main
1 Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 186. 3 Ibid., p. 191. 2Ibid., pp. 188-189. 4 Lowery and Brooks, MSS., Lib. Cong.
' swanTon] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 61
body, had become settled upon the stream which still bears their name by the date last given.
The first clear notice of the Stono seems to be in the narrative of Ecija’s second voyage, 1609. When he was in the port of Cayagua (Charleston Harbor) on his return he encountered a canoe, in which were the chiefs of Cayagua, Escamacu, and “Ostano.” In the pilot’s description at the end of this narrative we read, ‘From the bar of Orista to that of Ostano are 4 leagues.’”’ The opening was narrow and the distance to the bar of Cayagua 8 leagues.1_ From the figures it seems clear that this was not the present Stono Inlet, but North Edisto River. The possibility that this tribe was the Stalame of Laudonniére and that it moved eastward in later times has already been indicated.
A letter written June 17, 1617, by the Florida friars, complaining of conditions, mentions Santa Elena among those provinces where there were then no missions.'. In another from the governor of Florida, dated November 15, 1633, we learn that the chief of Satua- che, ‘‘more than 70 leagues” from St. Augustine, had brought to the capital three Englishmen who had been shipwrecked on his coast. This place lay from 6 to 10 leagues north of Santa Elena and seems from the context to have been newly missionized.? The position given would place it near the mouth of Edisto River. From a letter written in 1647 it appears that the Indians of “Satoache”’ had entirely abandoned their town,! yet they are mentioned, under the name Chatuache, in a list of missions dated 1655, in which San Felipe also appears. However, the fort seems never to have been rebuilt, and the missions were nothing more than outstations served at long intervals.
In 1670, when the English colony of South Carolina was estab- lished, there was no Spanish post east of the Savannah and no mission station nearer than St. Catherines Island, although traces of former Spanish occupancy were evident at Port Royal (Santa Elena). The Edisto were still on Edisto River and the Stono near the place occu- pied by them at the beginning of the century. The term “Indians of St. Helens” probably includes the Escamacu and related tribes. The Coosa were on the upper courses of the Cusabo rivers, where they seem to have lived throughout the Spanish period. The Kiawa of Ashley River are of course the ‘“‘Cayagua”’ of the Spaniards, and are in precisely the same location; the neighboring Wando on Cooper River and Etiwaw or Itwan on Wando River—particularly about Daniels Island*—are perhaps referred to in one or two Spanish docu-
1 Lowery and Brooks, MSS., Lib. Cong. 8 P. 322; Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 132. 2 Lowery, MSS., Lib. Cong. 4S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 386.
62 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
ments, but this is doubtful. As already suggested, the Wimbee, between Broad and Combahee Rivers, may be the Guiomaez or Guiomae of Pardo. The Combahee and Ashepoo on the rivers bearing those names, and the Witcheau or Wichcauh, mentioned in a sale of land, are entirely new to us.
Again we are dependent for specific information regarding these peoples on the narratives of voyages. The first which yields any- thing of value is ‘“‘A True Relation of a Voyage upon discovery of part of the Coast of Florida, from Lat. of 31 Deg. to 33 Deg. 45 m. North Lat. in the ship Adventure, William Hilton Commander,” etc.! The Adventure sailed from Spikes Bay, Barbados, August 10, 1663, and on September 3 entered St. Helena Sound.
On Saturday the fifth of September [runs the narrative], two Indians came on Board us, and said they were of St. Ellens; being very bold and familiar; speaking many Spanish words, as Cappitan, Commarado, and Adeus. They know the use of Guns and are as little startled at the fireing of a Piece of Ordnance, as he that hath been used to them many years: They told us the nearest Spaniards were at St. Augus- tins, and several of them had been there, which as they said was but ten days’ journey and that the Spaniards used to come to them at Saint Hllens sometimes in Conoas within Land, at other times in Small Vessels by Sea, which the Indians describe to have but two Masts.
At the invitation of the Indians the longboat with 12 hands was sent to St. Helena but the actions of the Indians appeared to its occupants so threatening that they returned without remaining overnight.
That which we noted there [the narrative says] was a fair house builded in the shape of a dovehouse, round, two hundred foot at least, compleatly covered with Palmeta- leaves, the wal-plate being twelve foot high, or thereabouts, within lodging rooms and forms; two pillars at the entrance of a high Seat above all the rest; Also another house like a Sentinel-house, floored ten foot high with planks, fastened with Spikes and Nayls, standing upon Substantial Posts, with several other small houses round about. Also we saw many planks, to the quantity of three thousand foot or thereabouts, with other Timber squared, and a Cross before the great house. Likewise we saw the Ruines of an old Fort, compassing more than half an acre of land within the Trenches, which we supposed to be Charls’s Fort, built, and so called by the French in 1562, &c.
In the meantime the vessel was visited by the chief of Edisto from the other side of the sound, who invited Hilton to come to his town and told him of some English castaways upon that coast, some of whom were in his custody and some at St. Helena. He informed them that three had been killed by the Stono. Those English who were with the Edisto were released, and the explorers then started to make their way to St. Helena through the inside channels in order to recover the rest. On the way ‘‘came many canoes about us with corn, pompions, and venison, deerskins, and a sort of sweet wood.”’ Ultimately after exchanging letters with a Spanish captain who had
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, pp. 18-26.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 63
been sent to St. Helena from St. Augustine to recover the English castaways, Hilton gave up his attempt, and having explored the entrance to Port Royal and ranged the coast to the northward almost to Cape Hatteras he got back to Barbados on January 6, 1664. In their general description of the land between Port Royal and Edisto River the explorers say:
The Indians plant in the worst Land because they cannot cut down the Timber in the best, and yet have plenty of Corn, Pompions, Water-Mellons, Musk-mellons: although the Land be over grown with weeds through their lasinesse, yet they have two or three crops of Corn a year, as the Indians themselves inform us. The Country abounds with Grapes, large Figs, and Peaches; the Woods with Deer, Conies, Turkeys, Quails, Curlues, Plovers, Teile, Herons; and as the Indians say, in Winter with Swans, Geese, Cranes, Duck and Mallard, and innumerable of other water-Fowls, whose names we know not, which lie in the Rivers, Marshes, and on the Sands: Oysters in abundance, with great store of Muscles: a sort of fair Crabs, and a round Shel-fish called Horse-feet; The Rivers stored plentifully with Fish that we saw play and leap. There are great Marshes, but most as far as we saw little worth, except for a Root that grows in them the Indians make good Bread of . . . The Natives are very healthful; we saw many very Aged amongst them.!
The next voyage that concerns us is entitled: ‘‘The Port Royall Discovery. Being the Relation of a voyage on the Coast of the Province of Carolina formerly called Florida in the Continent of the Northerne America from Charles River neere Cape Feare in the County of Clarendon and the Lat: of 34: deg: to Port Royall in the North Lat: of 32 d. begun 14th June 1666. Performed by Robert Sand- ford Esqr Secretary and Cheife Register for the Right Hon?'® the Lords Proprietors of their County of Clarendon in the Province aforesaid.”’?
On the date mentioned Sandford sailed with a vessel of ‘‘scarce 17 tons’? and a shallop ‘fof some 3 tons.”’ On the night of the 19th the larger vessel became separated from the shallop, and on the 22d the former sighted and entered what is now called North Edisto River. Sandford explored this for some distance and found many Indian cornfields and houses scattered among them, besides numerous heaps of oyster shells. From the Indians he learned that the chief town of the Edisto tribe was some distance inland, on what is now Edisto Island, at a place which Langdon Cheves, the editor of “The Shaftsbury Papers,’”’ suggests was ‘“‘probably near cross roads, by Eding’s ‘Spanish mount’ place.”’ Having gone beyond the nearest landing place for this village he stopped there on his return to accommodate the Indians who were desirous to trade with him.
When we were here [he says] a Cap‘ of the Nation named Shadoo (one of them w* Hilton had carryed to Barbados) was very earnest with some of our Company to goe with him and lye a night att their Towne w*" hee told us was but a smale distance
thence I being equally desirous to knowe the forme manner and populousnesse of the place asalsoe what state the Casique held (fame in all theire things preferring this place
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 24. *Tbid., pp. 57-82.
64 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
to all the rest of the Coast, and foure of my Company (vizt.) Lt.: Harvey, Lt: Woory, Mt Thomas Giles and mt Henry Woodward forwardly offring themselves to the service haveing alsoe some Indians aboard mee who constantly resided there night & day J permitted them to goe with Shadoo they retorned to mee the next morning w'" great Comendacons of their entertainment but especially of the goodness of the land they marcht through and the delightfull situation of the Towne. Telling mee withall that the Cassique himselfe appeared not (pretending some indisposition, but that his state was supplyed by a Female who received them with gladness and Courtesy placeing my Lt: Harvey on the seat by her their relation gave myselfe a Curiosity (they alsoe assureing mee that it was not above foure Miles off) to goe and see that Towne and takeing with mee Capt. George Cary and a file of men I marched thitherward followed by a long traine of Indians of whome some or other always presented yimselfe to carry mee on his shoulders over any the branches of Creekes or plashy corners of Marshes in our Way. This walke though it tend to the Southward of the West and consequently leads neere alongst the Sea Coast Yett it opened to our Viewe soe excellent a Country both for Wood land and Meadowes as gave singular satisfaction to all my Company. We crossed one Meadowe of not lesse than a thousand Acres all firme good land and as rich a Soyle as any clothed w'" a ffine grasse not passing knee deepe, but very thick sett & fully adorned with yeallow flowers. A pasture not inferiour to any I have seene in England the wood land were all of the same sort both for timber and mould with the best of those wee had ranged otherwhere and w“out alteration or abatement from their goodnes all the way of our March. Being entered the Towne wee were con- ducted into a large house of a Circular forme (their generall house of State) right against the entrance way a high seate of sufficient breadth for half a dozen persons on which sate the Cassique himselfe (vouchsafeing mee that favour) w'* his wife on his right hand (shee who had received those whome I had sent the evening before) hee was an old man of a large stature and bone. Round the house from each side the throne quite to the Entrance were lower benches filled with the whole rabble of men Women and children in the center of this house is kept a constant fire mounted on a great heape of Ashes and surrounded with little lowe foormes Capt: Cary and my selfe were placed on the higher seate on each side of the Cassique and presented with skinns accompanied with their Ceremonyes of Welcome and freindshipp (by stroaking our shoulders with their palmesand sucking in theire breath the whilst) The Towne is scituate on the side or rather in the skirts of a faire forrest in w°" at severall distances are diverse feilds of Maiz with many little houses straglingly amongst them for the habitations of the par- ticular families. On the East side and part of the South It hath a large prospect over meadows very spatious and delightfull, before the Doore of their Statehouse is a spa- tious walke rowed w'" trees on both sides tall & full branched, not much unlike to Elms w°" serves for the Exercise and recreation of the men who by Couples runn after a marble bowle troled out alternately by themselves with six foote staves in their hands w°" they tosse after the bowle in their race and according to the laying of their staves wine or loose the beeds they contend for an Exercise approveable enough in the winter but some what too violent (mee thought) for that season and noone time of the day from this walke is another lesse aside from the round house for the children to sport in. After afewe houres stay I retorned to my Vessell w*” a greate troope of Indians att my heeles. The old Cassique himselfe in the number, who lay aboard mee that night without the society of any of his people, some scores of w*" lay in boothes of their own immediate ereccon on the beach.
After this Sandford passed around through Dawho River and out by the South Edisto. Soon after he fell in with the shallop from which he had been separated and then made south to the entrance
of Port Royal, where he anchored in front of the principal Indian town.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS > 65
I had not ridd long [he says] ere the Cassique himselfe came aboard mee w'" a Canoa full of Indians presenting mee with skinns and bidding mee welcome after their manner, I went a shoare with him to see their Towne w™ stood in sight of our Vessell, Found as to the forme of building in every respect like that of Eddistowe with a plaine place before the great round house for their bowling recreation att th’end of w* stood a faire wooden Crosse of the Spaniards ereccon. But I could not observe that the Indians performed any adoracon beforeitt. Allround the Towne for a great space are severall feilds of Maiz ofa very large growth The soyle nothing inferior to the best wee had seene att Eddistowe ap- parently more loose and light and the trees in the woods much larger and rangd att a greater distance all the ground under them burthened exceedingly and amongst it a great variety of choice pasturage I sawe here besides the great number of peaches w*" the more Northerly places doe alsoe abound in some store of figge trees very large and faire both fruite and plants and diverse grape vines w*" though growing without Cul- ture in the very throng of weedes and bushes were yett filled with bunches of grapes to admiracon. . . . The Towne is scited on an Island made by a branch w* cometh out of Brayne Sound and falleth into Port Royall about a mile above where wee landed a cituacon not extraordinary here.
Here the shallop rejoined him after sailing through from St. Helena Sound by the inside channel. Wommony, son of the chief of Port Royal, and one of those whom Hilton had carried to Barbados, acted as its guide. Before his departure from this place Sandford left a surgeon named Henry Woodward to learn the language and in exchange took an Indian of the town with him. He says:
I called the Cassique & another old man (His second in Authority) and their wives And in sight and heareing of the whole Towne, delivered Woodward into their charge telling them that when I retorned I would require him att their hands, They received him with such high Testimonys of Joy and thankfullnes as hughely confirmed to mee their great desire of our friendshipp & society, The Cassique placed Woodward by him uppon the Throne and after lead him forth and shewed him a large feild of Maiz w°" hee told him should bee his, then hee brought him the Sister of the Indian that I had with mee telling him that shee should tend him & dresse his victualls and be careful of him that soe her Brother might be the better used amongst us.
An Indian of Edisto also desired to accompany him, and thinking that soe hee should be the more acceptable hee caused himselfe to be shoaren on the Crowne after ye manner of the Port Royall Indians, a fashion w*" I guesse they have taken from the Spanish Fryers. Thereby to ingratiate themselves w that Nation and indeed all along I observed a kinde of Emulacon amongst the three principall Indians of this Country (viz') Those of Keywaha Edistowe and Port Royall concerning us and our Freindshipp, Each contending to assure it to themselves and jealous of the other though all be allyed and this Notw' standing that they knewe wee were in actuall warre with the Natives att Clarendon and had killled and sent away many of them, ffor they frequently discoursed with us concerning the warre, told us that the Natives were noughts they land Sandy and barren, their Country sickly, but if wee would come amongst them Wee should finde the Contrary to all their Evills, and never any occasion of dischargeing our Gunns but in merryment and for pastime.
Sandford now returned toward the north and, having failed to make Kiawa (Charleston Harbor), landed at Charles Town on the Cape Fear River, July 12, 1666.
The expedition that was to result in the permanent settlement of the colony of South Carolina made a landfall at Sewee (now Bull’s) Bay
148061°—22_5
66 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY (BULL. 73
on the 15th or 16th of March, 1670, and anchored at the south end of Oni-see-cau (now Bull’s) Island. The longboat was sent ashore.
Vpon its approach to ye Land few were ye natiues who vpon ye Strand made fires & came towards vs whooping in theire own tone & manner making signes also where we should best Land & when we came a shoare they stroked vs on ye shoulders with their hands saying Bony Conraro Angles. knowing us to be English by our Collours (as wee supposed) we then gave them Brass rings & tobacco at which they seemed well pleased, & into ye boats after halfe an howre spent with ye Indians we betooke our selues, they liked our Company soe well that they would haue come a board with us. we found a pretty handsome channell about 3 fathoms & a halfe from ye place we Landed to ye Shippe, through which the next day we brought ye shipp to Anchor feareing a contrary winde & to gett in for some fresh watter. A day or two after ye Gouerno™ whom we tooke in at Bermuda with seuerall others went a shoare to view ye Land here. Some 3 Leagues distant from the shipp, carrying along with us one of ye Eldest Indians who accosted us ye other day, & as we drew to ye shore A good number of Indians appeared clad with deare skins hauing with them their bows & Arrows, but our Indian calling out Appada they withdrew & lodged theire bows & returning ran up to ye middle in mire & watter to carry us a shoare where when we came they gaue us ye stroaking Complimt of ye country and brought deare skins some raw some drest to trade with us for which we gaue them kniues beads & tobacco and glad they were of ye Market. by & by came theire women clad in their Mosse roabs bringing their potts to boyle a kinde of thickening which they pound & make food of, & as they order it being dryed makes a pretty sort of bread, they brought also plenty of Hickery nutts, a wall nut in shape, & taste onely differing in ye thicknees of the shell & small- ness of ye kernell. the Gouerno™ & seu’all others walking a little distance from ye water side came to ye Hutt Pallace of his Maty of ye place, who meeteing vs tooke ye Gouernot on his shoulders & carryed him into ye house in token of his chearfull Enter- tainement. here we had nutts & root cakes such as their women useily make as before & watter to drink for they use no other lickquor as I can Learne in this Countrey, while we were here his Ma's three daughters entred the Pallace all in new roabs of new mosse which they are neuer beholding to ye Taylor to trim up, with plenty of beads of diuers Collours about their necks: I could not imagine that ye sauages would so well deport themselues who coming in according to their age & all to sallute the strangers, stroaking of them. these Indians understanding our business to S* Hellena told us that ye Westoes a rangeing sort of people reputed to be the Man eaters had ruinated y* place killed seu’all of those Indians destroyed & burnt their Habitations & that they had come as far as Kayawah doeing the like there, ye Casseeka of which place was within one sleep of us (which is 24 howrs for they reckon after that rate) with most of his people whome in two days after came aboard of us.'
These people were probably of Siouan stock, but they bordered directly upon the Cusabo tribes and this account of them will give us a slight opportunity to compare the two peoples. This and the short notice that appears in Lawson embrace practically all of the information we have regarding the Sewee Indians, if such indeed they were.
Taking the chief of Kayawah, ‘‘a uery Ingenious Indian & a great Linguist in this Maine,” with them the prospective settlers now sailed to Port Royal, where they anchored, but it was two days before they could speak with an Indian, when what had been told
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls. v, pp. 165-166.
oS Se >
SWANTON] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 67
them at Sewee regarding the irruption of the Westo was con- firmed. Weighing anchor from Port Royal River they then
ran in between S' Hellena & Combohe where we lay at Anchorall ye time we staide neare ye Place where ye distressed Indian soiourned, who were glad & crying Hiddy doddy Comorado Angles Westoe Skorrye (which is as much as to say) English uery good friends Westoes are nought, they hoped by our Arriuall to be protected from ye Westoes, often making signes they would ingage them with their bowes & arrows, & wee should with our guns they often brought vs veneson & some deare skins w*" wee bought of them for beads. many of us went ashore at S* Hellena & brought back word that ye Land was good Land supplyed with many Peach trees, & a Competence of timber a few figg trees & some Cedar here & theire & that there was a mile & a half of Cleare Land fitt & ready to Plante. Oysters in great plenty all ye Islands being rounded w'" bankes of ye kinde, in shape longer & scarcely see any one round, yet good fish though not altogether of soe pleasant taste as yo’ wall fleet oysters. here is also wilde turke which ye Indian brought but is not soe pleasant to eate of as ye tame but uery fleshy & farr bigger.
A sloop which had been sent to Kiawa to examine that place now returned with a favorable report and the colonists sailed thither and made the first permanent settlement in South Carolina.t At this time we learn that that section of the province watered by the Stono River was full of Indian settlements.?
In May of the same year a sloop called The Three Brothers an- chored off Edisto Island—‘‘Odistash”’ as they call it—and two chiefs, named Sheedou and Alush, who had been taken to Bar- bados by Hilton, came out to them and directed them to Kiawa.?
In a letter written to Lord Ashley from this colony by William Owen on September 15, 1670, he says, referring to the coast Indians:
We haue them in a pound, for to ye Southward they will not goe fearing the Yamases Spanish Comeraro as ye Indians termes it. ye Westoes are behind them a mortall enemie of theires whom they say are ye man eaters of them they are more afraid then ye little children are of ye Bull beggers in England. to ye Northward they will not goe for their they cry yt is Hiddeskeh, y‘ is to say sickly, soe y* they reckon them- selves safe when they haue vs amongst them, from them there cann be noe danger ap™hended, they haue exprest vs vnexpected kindness for when ye ship went to and dureing her stay att Virginia provision was att the scarcest with us yet they daylie supplied vs y* we were better stored att her return than when she went haueing 25 days provision in stoe beside 3 tunn of corne more w* they promised to procuer when we pleased to com for it att Seweh.*
In a letter written to Lord Ashley on August 30, 1671, Maurice Mathews says: .
The Indians all About vs are our friends; all y' we haue knowledge of by theyre Appearance and traid with vs are as followeth:
St Helena ye Southermost; Ishpow, Wimbee, Edista, Stono, Keyawah, where we now liue, Kussoo to ye westward of vs, Sampa, wando Ituan, Gt Pa;> Sewee, Santee,
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, pp, 166-168.
2 Carroll, Hist. Colls. 8. Car., 11, p. 452.
3 Tbid., p. 170.
4Tbid., pp. 200-201.
5 In a note the editor of the Shaftesbury Papers gives an alternative rendering St Pa, and queries whether this vribe is the Sampa or Sampit repeated. There does not seem to be sufficient data for determining this point.
68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY . [ BULL. 73
Wanniah, Elasie, Isaw, Cotachicach, some of these haue 4 or 5 Cassikaes more, or Less Truly to define the power of these Cassukaes I must say thus; it is noe more (scarce as much) as we owne to ye Topakin in England, or A grauer person then our selues; I finde noe tributaries among them, butt intermariages & pouerty causeth them to visitt one Another; neuer quarrelling who is ye better man; they are generally poore & Spanish; Affraid of ye very foot step of a Westoe; A sort of people y’ liue vp to the westward [which these say eat people and are great warriors].!
Elsewhere in the same letter Mathews mentions an expedition inland in which ‘‘ About 30 miles or more vpwards wee came Among the Cussoo Indians our friends; with whome I had been twice before.’ This was on Ashley River.
In September, 1671, a war broke out with the Coosa Indians. The occasion of this is given in the Council Journal under date of September 27 as follows:
At a meeting of the Goverrour and Councill September 27th sitting and present (the same [as given above]). The Governour and Councill taking into their serious consideration the languishing condition that this Collony is brought into by reason of the great quantity of corne from time to time taken out of the plantations by the Kussoe and other Southward Indians and for as much as the said Indians will not comply with any faire entreaties to live peaceably and quietly but instead thereof upon every light occasion have and doe threaten the lives of all or any of our people whom they will sufore (?) to them and doe dayly persist and increase in their insolen- cyes soe as to disturb and invade some of our plantation in the night time but that the evill of their intentions have hitherto been prevented by diligent watchings. And for as much as the said Indians have given out that they intend for and with the Spaniards to cutt off the English people in this place &c Ordered ordeyned by the said Governuor &c Councill (nemine contra dicente) that an open Warr shall be forthwith prosecuted against the said Kussoe Indians and their co-adjutors & for the better effecting thereof that Commissions be granted to Capt. John Godfrey and Capt. Thomas Gray to prosecute the same effectually. And that Mr. Stephen Bull doe take into his custody two Kussoe Indians now in Towne and them to keepe with the best security he may till he receive firther orders from this Board.?
As, in a letter written to Lord Ashley by Joseph West on Sep- tember 3 preceding, the murder of an Indian by an Irish colonist is referred to,? probably the provocation was not all on one side. This war seems to have been pushed with exceeding vigor, since in the Council Journal for October 2 we read:
Upon consideration had of the disposing of the Indian prisoners now brought in for their better security and maintenance. It is resolved and ordered by the Grand Councill that every Company which went out upon that expedition shall secure and maintaine the Indians they have taken till they can transport the said Indians, but if the remaining Kussoe Indians doe in the meanetime come in and make peace and desire the Indians now prisoners then the said Indians shall be sett at Liberty having first paid such a ransom as shall be thought reasonable by the Grand Council to be shared equally among the Company of men that tooke the Indians aforesaid.*
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 334. The editor of the Shaftesbury Papers gives two other lists of these Cusabo tribes. The first is dated in 1695-6 and mentions ‘“‘the natives of Sainte Helena, Causa, Wimbehe, Combehe, Edistoe, Stonoe, Kiaway, Itwan, Seewee, Santee, Cussoes.’’ Causa does not appear again; Causa and Cussoe may refer to two sections of the Coosa. The second list is dated in 1707 and refers to ‘those called Cusabes, viz: Santees, Ittavans, Seawees, Stoanoes, Kiawaws, Kussoes, St. Helena &c. and Bohi- cotts.’’ :
2S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, pp. 341-242.
3 Ibid., p. 338.
4 Ibid., v, pp. 344-345. See also Rivers, Hist. S. Car., pp. 105-106.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 69
The transporting of the Indians meant transport to the West Indies as slaves, that being one of the amiable ways of civilizing redskins to which our ancestors were addicted. The fate of these un- fortunate Coosa is uncertain, but evidently the war came to an end after the aforesaid expedition. From a note based on information obtained from Governor West we learn that the—
Cossoes [were] to pay a dear skin monthly as an acknowledgm* or else to loose our amitie.!
This must have been one of the agreements when peace was made. In 1674, in some instructions to Henry Woodward, the Earl of Shaftesbury says: ‘‘ You are to treate with the Indians of Edisto for the Island and buy if of them and make a Friendship with them.’’?
Whether the order was carried out at that time does not appear. Meantime the Coosa Indians were again restless. The Council Journals for August 3, 1674, contain the following:
And forasmuch as it is credibly informed that the Kussoe Indians have secretly murdered 3 Englishmen and as these Indians have noe certaine abode Resolved that Capt. Mau: Mathews, Mt W™ Owen, capt Rich? Conant & M? Ra: Marshall doe inquire where the s4 Indians may be taken then to raise a party of men as they shall think convent under command of the s* capt Conant or any other parties under other com- manders to use all meanes to come up with the st Indians wheresoever to take or de- atroy all or any of them, the whole matter being left to their advisem'.*
Still earlier the colonists had begun to experience difficulties with the Stono, as this entry under date of July 25 attests:
For as &c it is credibly informed that the Indian Stonoe Casseca hath endeavored to confederate certaine other Indians to murder some of the English nation & to rise in Rebellion ag* this Settem* Resolved that capt. Mau: Mathews doe require & com- mand nine men of the Inhabi's of this Settlem* to attend him in this exped® to take the s* Indian and him cause to be brought to Charlestowne to answer to these things but if any opposition happen the s4 capt. Mathews is to use his discret” in the managmt thereof for the security of himself & the s* party of men whether by killing & destroying the s‘ Indian & his confederates or otherwise.*
According to the Council Journals of January 15, 1675, “‘some neighbor Indians” had expressed a desire to be settled into a town near Charleston.‘
To carry out the terms of the constitution drawn up for Carolina by John Locke a number of ‘‘baronies’’ were created in South Caro- lina, many of them by purchase of land from the Indian proprietors. Thus the land constituting Ashley barony on Ashley River was obtained from the Coosa Indians who surrendered it in the following terms:
To all menner of People, &c., know ye that wee, the Cassiques naturell Born Hears & Sole owners & proprietors of great & lesser Cussoe, lying on the river of Kyewah, the
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, p. 388. 3 Tbid., p. 451. 2 Ibid., p. 445. 4Ibid., p. 475.
70 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
River of Stonoe, & the freshes of the River of Edistah, doe for us ourselves, our sub- jects & vassals, grant, &c., whole part & parcell called great & lesser Cussoe unto the Right Hon®* Anthony Earl of Shaftsbury, Lord Baron Ashly of Wimborne St. Gyles, Lord Cooper of Pawlet, &c., 10 March, 1675. Marks of The Great Cassiq, &c., an In- dian Captain, a hill Captain, &c.!
To this are appended the signatures of several witnesses. What appears to have been a still more sweeping cession was made to Maurice Mathews in 1682 by the ‘‘chief of Stonah, chieftainess of Edisloh, chief of Asshepoo, chieftainess of St. Hellena, chief of Com- bahe, chief of Cussah, chief of Wichcauh, chief of Wimbee.’? In 1693 there was a short war with the Stono, a tribe which had already showed itself hostile on more than one occasion.” The same year we read that the Chihaw King complained of the cruel treatment he had received from John Palmer, who had barbarously beaten and cut him with his broadsword. These ‘“‘Chihaw”’ were perhaps in South Carolina and not representatives of that much better known band among the Creeks.* A body of Cusabo were in Col. John Barn- well’s army raised to attack the Tuscarora in 1711-12.° In 1712 was passed an act for ‘“‘settling the Island called Palawana, upon the Cusaboe Indians now living in Granville County and upon their Pos- terity forever.” From the terms of this act it appears that ‘‘most of the Plantations of the said Cusaboes”’ were already situated upon that island which is described as ‘‘near the Island of St. Helena,” but that it had fallen into private hands.
The act reads as follows:
Whereas the Cusaboe Indians of Granville County, are the native and ancient inhabitants of the Sea Coasts of this Province, and kindly entertained the first English who arrived in the same, and are useful to the Government for Watching and Discov- ering Enemies, and finding Shipwreck’d People; And whereas the Island called Palawana near the Island of St. Helena, upon which most of the Plantations of the said Cusaboes now are, was formerly by Inadvertancy granted by the Right Honorable the Lords Proprietors of this Province, to Matthew Smallwood, and by him sold and trans- ferred to James Cockram, whose Property and Possession it is at present; Be it En- acted by the most noble Prince Henry Duke of Beauford, Palatine, and the Rest of the Right Honorable the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of Carolina, together with the Advice and Consent of the Members of the General Assembly now met at Charles-Town for the South West Part of this Province, That from and after the Rati- fication of this Act, the Island of Palawana, lying nigh the Island of St. Helena, in Granville County, containing between Four and Five Hundred Acres of Land, be it more or less, now in the Possession of James Cockram as aforesaid, shall be and is hereby declared to be invested in the aforesaid Cusaboe Indians, and in their Heirs forever.®
1S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., v, pp. 456-457.
2 Rivers, Hist. S. Car., p. 38, 1856; Public Records of §. C., 36, p. 125.
3 Logan, a Hist. of the Upper Country of S. C., pp. 191-192; Carroll, Hist. Colls. S. Car., I, p. 74. By later writers this disturbance was in some way associated with the Westo war and the Stono and Westo were coupled together on this acco:mt and because of a superficial resemblance between their names.
4 Carroll, op. cit., p. 116.
°S. Car. Hist. and Gen. Mag., 9, pp. 30-31, 1908.
6 Laws of the Province of South Carolina, by Nicholas Trott (1763), No. 338, p. 277, quoted by Thomas in 18th Ann. Rept. Bur. Amer. Ethn., pt. 2, p. 633.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 7]
In 1715 the Yamasee war broke out and it is commonly supposed to have nearly exterminated the ancient tribes of South Carolina, one early authority stating that ‘‘some of the Corsaboys”’ along with the Congarees, Santees, Seawees, Pedees, and Waxaws were “utterly extirpated,’’! but I quote this statement merely to refute it. As a matter of fact, remnants of nearly all the ancient tribes persisted for a considerable period afterwards. In 1716 there was a short war between the colonists and the Santee and Congaree Indians. The Etiwaw took part in this contest on the side of the whites. Over half of the offending tribes were taken prisoners and sent as slaves to the West Indies.? In the same year we find a note to the effect that the colony had been presented with six dressed deerskins by the ‘‘Coosoe”’ Indians and twelve dressed and eight raw deerskins by the ‘“Ttawans.’’* In 1717 there is a note of a present made by the “Kiawah” Indians.‘ In a letter written by Barnwell, April, 1720, there is mention of the ‘‘Coosaboys:’’*® In 1727 we learn that ‘‘the King of the Kywaws”’ desired recompense for some service, and, ap- parently the same year, he was given a grant of land south of the ““Combee”’ River.° About 1743 Adair mentions ‘“‘Coosah’’ as a dialect spoken in the Catawba nation, but it is not probable that all of the Coosa removed there.7?. Some time after the founding of Georgia an old man among the Creek Indians stated that the first whites were met with at the mouth of the Coosawhatchie,’ and it ap- pears that this report was current among the Creeks, although some- times the name of Savannah River is substituted. The tradition is, of course, correct, and it would seem probable that it was due not merely to hearsay information but to the actual presence among the Creeks of families or bands of Indians of Cusabo origin. Apart from those who joined the Catawba, Creeks, and other tribes, the last glimpse we have of the coast Indians shows the remnant of the Kiawa and Cusabo in the neighborhood of Beaufort. We do not know whether the Etiwaw and Wando were included among the Kiawa, but it is probable that a part at least of all of these tribes remained near their ancestral seats and were gradually merged in the surrounding popu- lation.
The following remarks of Adair may well be inserted as the vale- dictory of these people, although it applies also to the small Siouan tribes northward of them and to some others:
\ Rivers, Hist. S. Car., pp. 93-94. ° Pub. Rec. of S. C., MS. vim, p. 4. 2 Pub. Rec. of S. C., MS. 6 Journal of the Council, S. C. docs., x, p. 24. 3 Proc. of Board dealing with Indian trade, MS., p.62. 7 Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., p. 225.
4 Thid., p. 186. 8 Carroll, Hist. Colls. S. Car., 1, XXXVII.
12 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 73
In most of our American colonies, there yet remain a few of the natives, who for- merly inhabited those extensive countries; and as they were friendly to us, and sery- iceable to our interests, the wisdom and virtue of our legislature secured them from being injured by the neighboring nations. The French strictly pursued the same method, deeming such to be more useful than any others on alarming occasions. We called them ‘‘ Parched-corn-Indians,’’ because they chiefly use it for bread, are civ- ilized, and live mostly by planting. As they had no connection with the Indian nations [i. e., the Catawba, Cherokee, Muskogee, Chickasaw, and Choctaw], and were desirous of living peaceable under the British protection, none could have any just plea to kill or inslave them.’’!
ETHNOLOGICAL INFORMATION REGARDING THE CUSABO
Ethnological information regarding the Cusabo is scanty and unsatisfactory, the interest of the colonists having been quickly attracted to those great tribes lying inland which they called ‘‘na- tions.”” Such material as is to be had must be interpreted in the light of the fuller information to be gathered from larger southern tribes like the Creeks, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw. Never- theless it is of interest to know that certain features of the lives of these peoples were or were not shared by the ones better known.
The material gathered by the Spaniards as a result of the Ayllon expedition has been given in connection with the account of that venture, and will not be considered again. The region to which it applies is too uncertain to consider it definitely under this head. From the time of the French settlement in 1562, however, we have a sufficiently clear localization, from the French, Spanish, and English narratives successively. The greater part of our informa- tion comes, however, from the French and English, the Spaniards not having been interested in the people among whom they came or not having published those papers which contained accounts of them.
The following general description of the appearance of the natives, and their mental and moral characteristics, is from Alexander Hewat. It does not apply to the Cusabo alone, but Hewat was probably better acquainted with them than with any other Indians.
In stature they are of a middle size, neither so tall nor yet so low as some Europeans. To appearance they are strong and well made; yet they are totally unqualified for that heavy burden or tedious labour which the vigorous and firm nerves of Europeans enable them to undergo. None of them are deformed, deformities of nature being confined to the ages of art and refinement. Their colour is brown, and their skin shines, being varnished with bears fat and paint. To appearance the men have no beards, nor hair on their head, except a round tuft on its crown; but this defect is not natural, as many people are given to believe, but the effect of art, it being custom- ary among them to tear out such hair by the root. They go naked, except those parts which natural decency teaches the most barbarous nations to cover. The huts in which they live are foul, mean and offensive; and their manner of life is poor,
1 Adair, Hist. Am. Inds., p. 343.
SWANTON ] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 73
nasty, and disgustful. In the hunting season they are eager and indefatigable in pursuit of their prey; when that is over, they indulge themselves in a kind of brutal slumber, indolence, and ease. In their distant excursions they can endure hunger long, and carry little with them for their subsistence; but in days of plenty they are voracious as vultures. While dining in company with their chieftains we were astonished at the vast quantity of meat they devoured. Agriculture they leave to women, and consider it as an employment unworthy of a man: indeed they seem amazingly dead to tender passions, and treat their women like slaves, or beings of inferior rank. Scolding, insults, quarrels, and complaints are seldom heard among them; on solemn occasions they are thoughtful, serious, and grave; yet I have seen them free, open, and merry at feasts and entertainments. In their common deport- ment towards each other they are respectful, peaceable, and inoffensive. Sudden anger is looked upon as ignominious and unbecoming, and, except in liquor, they seldom differ with their neighbour, or even do him any harm or injury. As for riches they have none, nor covet any; and while they have plenty of provisions, they allow none tosuffer through want; if they are successful in hunting, all their unfortunate or distressed friends share with them the common blessings of life.!
This description has importance, not as a moral evaluation of these people but as a set of impressions to be interpreted with due regard to the standards and ideals in the mind of the observer himself. Another writer says that bear grease was used on the hair to make it grow and at the same time kill the vermin.? Another says of their head hair that it was ‘‘tied in various ways, sometimes oyl’d and painted, stuck through with Feathers for Ornament or Gallantry,” and he adds that they painted their faces ‘‘ with different Figures of a red or Sanguine Colour.’’* Their clothing consisted of bear or deer skins dressed, it is said, ‘‘rather softer, though not so durable as ours in England.’’* They were sometimes ornamented with black and red checks.® Locke notes that they ‘dye their deer skins of excel- lent colours.’’® Pearls were obtained from the rivers, and they knew how to pierce them, but the process spoiled their value for European trade. They made little baskets of painted reeds,’ and the French found the house of Ouadé, which was, it is true, in the Guale ~ country, ‘““hung with feathers (plumasserie) of different colors, to the height of a pike.”” ‘‘Moreover upon the place where the king slept were white coverings woven in panels with clever artifice and edged about with a scarlet fringe.’’?* These must have been either cane mats or else textiles made of mulberry bark or some similar material, like those fabricated throughout the south. The ‘‘panels”’ were probably the typical diagonal designs still to be seen on southern baskets. The French add that Ouadé presented them with six pieces of his hangings made like little coverings.
! Hewatin Carroll, Hist. Colls. 8. Car.,1, pp. 65-66. 6S. Car. Hist. Soc. Colls., V, p. 462.
2 Carroll, op. cit., 1, pp. 728. 7 Carroll, op. cit., 1, pp. 80-81.
* Tbid., p. 73. 8 Laudonniére, Hist. Not. de la Floride, p.