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Peter Martyr's description of Cusabo: Chicora and Duhare Natives

Source: Early History of the Creek Indians and Their Neighbors #121

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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 reproductions by later writers. Thus in the French translation of Gomara we read that the priests of Chicora abstained from eating human flesh ("lls ne mangent point de la chair humaine comme les autres"), while the original simply says "they do not eat flesh (no comencarne)." The translation also informs us that the Chicoranos made cheese from the milk of their women ("lls font du fromage du laict de leurs femmes"), while the original states that they made 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.
(Swanton)

Peter Martyr (Anghiera, Pietro Martire 1457-1526)
(https://archive.org/details/deorbenovoeightd02angh)

De Orbe Novo (with inline notes by Swanton)
Leaving the coast of Chicorana on one hand, the Spaniards landed in another country called " Duharhe." (The reader will observe in this narrative that the many wonderful things widely reported of Chicora really apply to Duhare.) Ayllon says the natives are white men (evidently Indians of lighter color), 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. AN3 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 investigations I have made, these people were too barbarous and uncivilized to have horses. (Peter Martyr makes the simple difficult. The custom was universal among southern trilws of carrying chiefs and leading personages about in litters borne on the shoulders of several men.) 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. (Of course these statements arc erroneous, but there may have been individual cases of domestication which furnished some foundation for such reports.) 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 inhabitants wear a distinctive priestly costume, aud they are regarded as priests and venerated 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. (There is some confusion here. Evidently the reference is to a class of doctors or shamans who jicr formed such offices, not to an entire tribe.) 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. (*Probably this is a reference to the use of mulberry bark common among all southern tribes.)

Alligator men myth
There is another country called Inzignanin, whose inhabitants declare that, according to the tradition of their ancestors, there once arrived amongst them men with tails a meter long and as thick as a man's arm. 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 as a 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. (This is a native myth which Mr. Hooney has collected from the Cherokee, and I from the Alabama. Possibly it is a myth regarding the alligator from pcople who had only heard of that reptile.)

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 province 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.

Harvest festival statues
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 harvest. 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 to his breast, to the top of his palace, where he exhibits them to the people. Lie 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. (This ceremony seems to correspond in intention to the Creek liusk, but the form of it is quite different.)

Gift competition to an annual idol
Another feast is celebrated every year when a roughly carved wooden statue is carried 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 his means. 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 do in 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.

Festival of resurrection
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 perpetual 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 attentions, 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. (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.)

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 other marine gods—Glaucus. Phorcus, and the rest of them.

Priestly shows
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.

Men and Women
Widows are forbidden to marry again if the husband has died a natural death;1 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 (This, of course. Refers to the great southern ball game.); 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 different fruits for illumination at night. They likewise have olive-trees (Oil was extracted from acorns and several kinds of nuts. One of these is evidently intended.) They invite one another to dinner. Their longevity is great and their old age is robust.

Medicine
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 (Perhaps the I la vomitoria from which the "black drink" was brewed.) 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 acquainted 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.

Saluting the king
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.

Creating a giant king
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 I have mentioned, received from the Indians stolen on the vessel that was saved explanations differing 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 principally 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 vegetables, 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 I become monotonous.

Swanton's review
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 (See p. 43.) 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 subjection and the exaction of tribute, but at least Duhare was plainly a very important country at that time, distinctly overshadowing Chicora. What is said about the people of Tihe being, as it were, a race of priests is interesting, and may mean that they were of a different 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 do not 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.
(Swanton)