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Laudonniere described Port Royal natives
Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121
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From the story of these survivors recorded by Laudonniere and the data on Le Moyne's map we are enabled to get an interesting 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. Tribe names and locations 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 Laudonniere 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 channel 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 narrative are given the names of their tribes. Yet more toward the south, beyond Maccou, lived two chiefs, said to be brothers. The nearer was named Ouade, the more distant Couexis (Covexis). According to the narrative of Laudonniere they found Ouade on the river they had named "Belle," and, since messengers sent by Ouade 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 Laudonniere'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. Ouade 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." (Also spelled Escamaqu, Eescamaqu, Escamaquu, Escamatu,CamaciI,and Camaqu). 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 Carolina. Even in Laudonniere's history they seem to occupy a subordinate 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 Spaniards 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 cast, and I venture a guess, following a conjecture of Mooney, that they are the Stono of later colonial history. Of the two tribes lying southward a complete continuity of information shows that Ouade 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. This identification of Ouade 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 ethnologists and future historians, as well as of immediate utility in the present bulletin, it is incorporated in the subjoined 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. [TABLE p.51] Geographical Names from St. Augustine to Cape Fear Riviere de May. SPaNiSh. Isla de Santa Orui. Rio de San Mateo. Isla de San Juan. liahia dc San it. Maria (or 11. Sarauahi). dc ENGliSh. Coast land north of St. Augustine. River St. Johns. Talbot Island. R. de Sarauahi (or Serranay), Nassau Sound. called R. Halimacani and (mis takenly?) R. Somme in the Gourgues narrative. He de May. Riviere Seine. He de la Seine. Riviere Somme (called Aine by Le Moyne). lie de la Somme. Riviere Loire. lie de la Loire. Riviere Charente. He de la Charente. Riviere Garonne. lie de la Garonne. Riviere Gironde. Iledela Gironde. Riviere Belle. He de la Riviere ilellc. Riviere Grande. He de la Riviere < Jrande. Isla de Santa Maria. Amelia Island. liahia de San Pedro (or Tacata- St. Marys River. curu). IsladeSan Pedro (or Tacatacurui. Cumberland Island. liahia de Ballenas ("Bay of St. Andrews Sound. whales"). Isla do Gualequini (or Obalda- Jekyl Island. quini). liahia de Gualequini. Isla de Asao (or Talaxc). Bahia de Asao (or Talaxe). liahia do Espogue. Isla de Sapala. liahia de Sapala. Isla do Santa Catarina (or Guale). liahia de Santa Catarina (or Cofonufo). Isla de Asopo. liahia de Asopo. liahia de la Cruz (or de lasCruces). Riviere Dulce. Rio Dulce. Bahia de los Baxos ("Bay <'f shoals"). (Sec He de la Riviere Grande IsladelosOsos("Islando(bears"). above.) Riviere de Port Royal. Bahia de Santa Elena. lie de Port Royal. Isla de Santa Elena. Riviere de Belle Voir (T). Bahia de Orista. He de Belle Voir (?). Bahia de Ostano. Bahia dc Cayagua. Riviere Jordan. Rio Jordan. Rio de San l.orenzo (also Rio de Chico, perhaps also Rio de San Juan Itautista ,.' Cap Roman. Cabo Romano. 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. Tybec Roads. Hilton Head Island. Port Royal Sound. St. Helena Island. St. Helena Sound. Edisto Island. North Edisto River. Charleston Harltor. Santce River. Winyaw Bay (and Pedee River). Cape Fear. 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 substituting the name Aine [Aisne] for Somme. The writer would have attributed this to a mere blunder were it not that in the narrative 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. (The Gourgues narratives give the native name of this stream as Halimacani, after a Timuctia chief whose town was near the mouth of the St. Johns on tho north side, whilo 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.) 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 encountered bad weather which made it necessary for them to put out to sea. When they came shoreward again the vessel in which Laudonniere sailed discovered another river, which they named Belle a Veoir, or Belle Voir. Le Moyne gives this as a river encountered south of Port Royal, but his text is based on Laudonniere and on a misunderstanding of that, so that it may be discarded as authority. For instance, where Laudonniere 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 Ouude asking for food, they came upon a river of fresh water 10 leagues from their fort. This is the River Dulce of Le Moyne—on his map erroneously inserted between the Rivers Grande and Belle—and in nll probability is identical with Savannah River. The only remaining tribal name mentioned by Laudonniere 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 considerable prominence, Laudonniere 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 Chiquola 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... (Swanton)
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