One of these, a man named Nero, had been raised as a slave on Francis Fatio's "baronial" estate of New Switzerland, on the St. Johns River. Because the plantation lay at the edge of Seminoles lands, there was frequent contact between Fatio's slaves and the Seminoles. Fatio received Seminole hunting parties at his plantation almost as a Spanish governor would, with gifts and food. Sometimes, as during the Bowles years, they came as raiders. It is not surprising that a number of Fatio's slaves learned the Seminole language and culture from these frequent exchanges... When Nero was still an adolescent he was either taken by, or joined, Indian raiders who attacked the Fatio plantation in 1812. Fatio sent agents out to try to recover the boy, whose family still lived on the plantation, but in vain. Lost temporarily from the historical recor, Nero reappears in the aftermath of the destruction of Prospect Bluff. AN379 (184). (Landers: Atlantic Creoles)