for about a quarter of a league and seeing some smoke rise on the south shore, they discovered three bulks which looked like tree trunks, but when these began to move towards the forest, they recognised them to be Indians. They jumped on land and although they tried to catch up with them they could not find them any more, not even their traces, for the soil was covered with dry leaves. They found the lighted fire, and on it a badly shaped earthen pan, with lungs1 of bison, very tastelessly prepared, stewing in it, and some pieces of meat toasting on wooden roasters. On one of them some fish was transfixed, which looked like "Chuchos." In baskets made of reed, and which the Indians call "Uzate” (Uçate) there was some corn, calabash-seeds, bison-wool and hair of other animals, put in deerskin bags, a lot of mussels (shell-fish), shells, bones and similar things. They found several feather plumes of fine turkeys,2 cardinal birds or redbirds, and other birds and many small crosses, the sight of which delighted them, although they recognised soon that those were spindles on which the Indian women span the wool of the bison. The Spaniards put into one of the baskets cakes, into the other knives and scissors, and, after erecting a cross, they returned to their boat. They navigated half a league when they saw to starboard four or five Indians, who, in order to escape more swiftly threw away all they carried. They [the Spaniards] landed and found several skins of marten, fox, otter, and bison and a lot of meat pulverised and putrid, in wooden troughs. In one of the baskets which were strewn about, they found some roots looking like iris or ginger, very sweet in taste, bison-wool done up in balls, spindles and beaver-wool or hair in bags, very soft white feathers and pulverised clay or earth apparently for painting, combs, not so badly made, leather shoes shaped more like boots, claws of birds and other animals, roots of dittany, several pieces of brazil, a very much worn, large hoe and an iron adze. The Indian huts, which they saw here, were made of tree-bark and in the sea were two canoes or boats, one with bows and arrows made of very strong wood and points of bone; the other was badly used [in bad condition]. These boats showed that those Indians had probably come here by water 3 .. Toward the south-southeast went Don Carlos de Siguenza with captain Juan Jordan, Antonio Fernandez, carpenter, and an artillery man, and they found a hut, built on four posts and covered with palm leaves. Inside they found a deerskin, a sash made of bison wool, a piece of blue cloth of Spain, about a yard and a half long and thrown over the poles, many mother-of-pearl shells, fish-spines, animal-bones and several large locks of [human hair]. A little further on at the foot of a tall pine tree they saw in a hamper a decayed body, to all appearances that of a woman; but, leaving all this as it was, they went to the spot where they had seen the two Indians and they found one, who fled, leaving in the place where he had been a gourd filled with water and a bit of roasted meat; which provisions, however, made them suppose him to be a sentinel, the more so as they soon found traces of children's and women's feet, but could find nobody." There are also three specific references to the Pensacola by French writers. Pénicaut states that in 1699 the chiefs of "five different nations, named the Pascagoulas, the Capinans, the Chicachas, the Passacolas, and the Biloxis, came with ceremony to our fort, singing, 1 Probably the whole lights, or haslet, i, e., lungs, heart, and liver. Pilones, probably wooden mortars. • Which might have been flaxinella or marjoram. Petaca means really a leather trunk fashioned after the style of a hamper. to present the calumet to M. d'Iberville." La Harpe in his Journal Historique says that on October 1, 1702, at Mobile, "other savages were received who sang the calumet, and promised to live in peace with the Chicachas, the Pensacolas, and the Apalaches." These "other savages" were probably Alabama Indians. And finally, Bienville in an unpublished account of the native tribes of Louisiana dating from about 1725 says that the villages of the Pensacola and Biloxi lay near each other on Pearl River, the two containing but 40 warriors. In a letter on Indian affairs, dated Pensacola, December 1, 1764, is an estimate of the Indian population in the Gulf region, and among the entries, we read, "Beloxies, Chactoes, Capinas, Panchaculas [Pensacolas], Washaws, Chawasaws, Pascagulas, 251."4 It is therefore probable that a remnant of the tribe continued a precarious existence, probably in close alliance with some larger one, for a long time after it was supposed to be extinct. This would be quite in line with what we find in the case of so many other small tribes. THE MOBILE AND TOHOME So far as our information goes, the first white men to have dealings with the Indians of Mobile Bay were probably the Spaniards under Pinedo. Pinedo was sent out by Garay, governor of Jamaica, in the year 1519, to explore toward the north, and he appears to have coasted along the northern shore of the Gulf of Mexico from the peninsula of Florida to Panuco. In the description of this voyage in the Letters Patent we read that after having covered the entire distance "they then turned back with the said ships, and entered a river which was found to be very large and very deep, at the mouth of which they say they found an extensive town, where they remained 40 days and careened their vessels. The natives treated our men in a friendly manner, trading with them, and giving what they possessed. The Spaniards ascended a distance of 6 leagues up the river, and saw on its banks, right and left, 40 villages.' The river referred to is usually identified with the Mississippi, but I am entirely in accord with Mr. Hamilton in finding in it the River Mobile. When first known to us the banks of the Mississippi near the ocean were not permanently occupied by even small tribes, and occupancy the year around would have been practically impossible. On the other hand, the shores of Mobile River must once have been quite thickly settled, for Iberville, on his first visit to the Indian tribes there, notes numbers of abandoned Indian settlements all along the way. There seems to be practically no other place answer 1 Margry, Déc., v, p. 378. La Harpe, Jour. Hist., pp. 73–74. • French anscription, Lib. Cong. Amer. Hist. Rev., XX, No. 4, p. 825. 5 Harrisse, Disc. of N. Amer., p. 168. 6 Hamilton, Col. Mobile, p. 10. ing to the description here given. The later depopulation can be accounted for by the wars of which Iberville speaks and by the pestilences, which seem to have moved just a little in advance of the front rank of white invasion. Narvaez encountered some of the Indians of Mobile Bay,1 but it is open to question whether they were the ones in possession in Iberville's time. The Province of Achuse or Ochus, discovered by Maldonado, may also have been here, and again it may have been. about Pensacola.2 Our next historical encounter with the Mobile tribes was that famous and sanguinary meeting between De Soto and the Mobile, which has served to immortalize the Indians participating almost as much as does the city which bears their name. According to Ranjel they first heard of the people of Mobile at "Talisi," probably the Creek town now known as Tålsi, where messengers reached them from Tascaluça, the Mobile chief. His name is in the Choctaw language or one almost identical with Choctaw, just as we should expect, and means "Black warrior." Ranjel calls him "a powerful lord and one much feared in that land." "And soon, "he adds, "one of his sons appeared and the governor ordered his men to mount and the horsemen to charge and the trumpets to be blown (more to inspire fear than to make merry at their reception). And when those Indians returned the commander sent two Christians with them instructed as to what they were to observe and to spy out, so that they might take counsel and be forewarned." On Tuesday, October 5, 1540, the army left Talisi and, after passing through several villages, encamped the following Saturday, October 9, within a league of Tascaluça's village. "And the governor dispatched a messenger, and he returned with the reply that he would be welcome whenever he wished to come." Ranjel's narrative goes on as follows: Sunday, October 10, the governor entered the village of Tascaluça, which is called Athahachi, a recent village. And the chief was on a kind of balcony on a mound at one side of the square, his head covered by a kind of coif like the almaizal, so that his headdress was like a Moor's, which gave him an aspect of authority; he also wore a pelote or mantle of feathers down to his feet, very imposing; he was seated on some high cushions, and many of the principal men among his Indians were with him. He was as tall as that Tony of the Emperor, our lord's guard, and well proportioned, a fine and comely figure of a man. He had a son, a young man as tall as himself, but more slender. Before this chief there stood always an Indian of graceful mien holding a parasol on a handle something like a round and very large fly fan, with a cross similar to that of the Knights of the Order of St. John of Rhodes, in the middle of a black field, and the cross was white. And although the governor entered the plaza and alighted from his horse and went up to him, he did not rise, but remained passive in perfect composure, and as if he had been a king. The governor remained seated with him a short time, and after a little he arose and said that they should come to eat, and he took him with him and the Indians came to dance; and they danced very well in the fashion of rustics in Spain, so that it was pleasant to see them. At night he desired to go, and the commander told him that he must sleep there. He understood it and showed that he scoffed at such an intention for him, being the lord, to receive so suddenly restraints upon his liberty, and dissembling, he immediately despatched his principal men each by himself, and he slept there notwithstanding his reluctance. The next day the governor asked him for carriers and a hundred Indian women; and the chief gave him four hundred carriers and the rest of them and the women he said he would give at Mabila, the province of one of his principal vassals. And the governor acquiesced in having the rest of that unjust request of his fulfilled in Mabila; and he ordered him to be given a horse and some buskins and a scarlet cloak for him to ride off happy. At last, Tuesday, October 12, they departed from the village of Atahachi, taking along the chief, as has been said, and with him many principal men, and always the Indian with the sunshade attending his lord, and another with a cushion And that night they slept in the open country The next day, Wednesday, they came to Piachi, which is a village high above the gorge of a mountain stream; and the chief of this place was evil intentioned, and attempted to resist their passage; and as a result, they crossed the stream with effort, and two Christians were slain, and also the principal Indians who accompanied the chief. In this village, Piachi, it was learned that they had killed Don Teodoro and a black, who came from the ships of Pamphilo de Narvaez.1 Saturday, October 16, they departed thence into a mountain where they met one of the two Christians whom the governor had sent to Mabila, and he said that in Mabila there had gathered together much people in arms The next day they came to a fenced village, and there came messengers from Mabila bringing to the chief much bread made from chestnuts, which are abundant and excellent in that region. Monday, October 18, St. Luke's day, the governor came to Mabila, having passed that day by several villages, which was the reason that the soldiers stayed behind to forage and to scatter themselves, for the region appeared populous And there went on with the governor only forty horsemen as an advance guard, and after they had tarried a little, that the governor might not show weakness, he entered into the village with the chief, and all his guard went in with him. Here the Indians immediately began an areyto,2 which is their fashion for a ball with dancing and song. While this was going on some soldiers saw them putting bundles of bows and arrows slyly among some palm leaves, and other Christians saw that above and below the cabins were full of people concealed. The governor was informed of it, and he put his helmet on his head and ordered all to go and mount their horses and warn all the soldiers that had come up. Hardly had they gone out when the Indians took the entrances of the stockade, and there were left with the governor, Luis de Moscoso and Baltasar de Gallegos, and Espindola, the captain of the guard, and seven or eight soldiers. And the chief went into a cabin and refused to come out of it. Then they began to shoot arrows at the governor. Baltasar de Gallegos went in for the chief, he not being willing to come out. He disabled the arm of a principal Indian with the slash of a knife. Luis de Moscoso waited at the door, so as not to leave him alone, and he was fighting like a knight and did all that was possible until "not being able to endure any more, he cried, Señor Baltasar de Gallegos, come out, or I will leave you, for I cannot wait any longer for you." During this, Solis, a resident of Triana of Seville, had ridden up, and Rodrigo Ranjel, who were the first, and for his sins Solis was immediately stricken down dead; but Rodrigo Ranjel got to the gate of the town at the time when 1 See p. 145. 2 A West Indian word for an Indian dance. (Note by Bourne.) the governor went out, and two soldiers of his guard with him, and after him came more than seventy Indians who were held back for fear of Rodrigo Ranjel's horse, and the governor, desiring to charge them, a negro brought up his horse; and he told Rodrigo Ranjel to give aid to the captain of the guard, who was left behind, for he had come out quite used up, and a soldier of the guard with him; and he with a horse faced the enemy until he got out of danger, and Rodrigo Ranjel returned to the governor and had him draw out more than twenty arrows, which he bore fastened to his armour, which was a loose coat quilted with coarse cotton. And he ordered Ranjel to watch for Solis, to rescue him from the enemy, that they should not carry him inside. And the governor went to collect the soldiers. There was great valour and shame that day among all those that found themselves in this first attack and beginning of this unhappy day; for they fought to admiration and each Christian did his duty as a most valiant soldier. Luis de Moscoso and Baltasar de Gallegos came out with the rest of the soldiers by another gate. As a result the Indians were left with the village and all the property of the Christians, and with the horses that were left tied inside, which they killed immediately. The governor collected all of the forty horse that were there and advanced to a large open place before the principal gate of Mabila. There the Indians rushed out without venturing very far from the stockade, and to draw them on the horsemen made a feint of taking flight at a gallop, withdrawing far from the walls. And the Indians believing it to be real, came away from the village and the stockade in pursuit, greedy to make use of their arrows. And when it was time the horsemen wheeled about on the enemy, and before they could recover themselves, killed many with their lances. Don Carlos wanted to go with his horse as far as the gate, and they gave the horse an arrow shot in the breast. And not being able to turn, he dismounted to draw out the arrow, and then another came which hit him in the neck above the shoulder, at which, seeking confession, he fell dead. The Indians no longer dared to withdraw from the stockade. Then the Commander invested them on every side until the whole force had come up; and they went up on three sides to set fire to it, first cutting the stockade with axes. And the fire in its course burned the two hundred odd pounds of pearls that they had, and all their clothes and ornaments, and the sacramental cups, and the moulds for making the wafers, and the wine for saying the mass; and they were left like Arabs, completely stripped, after all their hard toil. They had left in a cabin the Christian women, which were some slaves belonging to the governor; and some pages, a friar, a priest, a cook, and some soldiers defended themselves very well against the Indians, who were not able to force an entrance before the Christians came with the fire and rescued them. And all the Spaniards fought like men of great courage, and twenty-two died, and one hundred and fortyeight others received six hundred and eighty-eight arrow wounds, and seven horses were killed and twenty-nine others wounded. Women and even boys of four years of age fought with the Christians; and Indian boys hanged themselves not to fall into their hands, and others jumped into the fire of their own accord. See with what good will those carriers acted. The arrow shots were tremendous, and sent with such a will and force that the lance of one gentleman named Nuño de Tovar, made of two pieces of ash and very good, was pierced by an arrow in the middle, as by an auger, without being split, and the arrow made a cross with the lance. On that day there died Don Carlos, and Francis de Soto, the nephew of the Governor, and Johan de Gamez de Jaen, and Men Rodriguez, a fine Portugues gentleman, and Espinosa, a fine gentleman, and another named Velez, and one Blasco de Barcarrota, and many other honoured soldiers; and the wounded comprised all the men of most worth and honour in the army. They killed three thousand of the vagabonds without counting many others who were wounded and whom they afterwards found dead in |