Date published: 1922-01-01
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors (ID121)
Author: Swanton, John (ID85)
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Race described: Indian
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Content id: 1285
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1670-03-15 - 1670-03-15

Carolina Indians gave the English settlers a grand welcomeedit

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 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 natiuee 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 ourselues, 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 Gouernor 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 Complim1 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 & smallness of ye kernell. the Gouerno' & seu'all others walking a little distance from ye water side came to ye Hutt Pallace of his Matj' of ye place, who meeteing vs tooke ye Gouerno' on his shoulders & carryed him into ye house in token of his chearfull Entertainement. 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'*" 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 Weetoes [Westos] 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 Mb 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 thejr could speak with an Indian, when what had been told them at Sewee regarding the irruption of the Westo was confirmed. Weighing anchor from Port Royal River they then "ran in between S' Hellena & Combohe where we lay at Anchor all ye time we staide neare ye Place where ye distressed Indian soiourned, who were glad & crying Kiddy 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 wch 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 [native food], & 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 wlh 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. At this time we learn that that section of the province watered by the Stono River was full of Indian settlements. (Swanton)

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