Memoir
OF
HERNANDO D'ESCALANTE FONTANEDO,*

ON THE COUNTRY AND ANCIENT INDIAN
TRIBES OF
FLORIDA.

TRANSLATED FROM TERNAUX COMPAN'S FRENCH TRANSLATION FROM THE ORIGINAL MEMOIR IN SPANISH.

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* The writer of this memoir was born in Carthagena, in 1538, and was shipwrecked and captured off the coast of Florida by the Indians. He was spared and brought up among them, and learned to speak four Indian languages, and calls attention to what has since been termed their "polysynthetic" structure. He afterwards returned to Spain, and accompanied the expedition of Don PEDRO MENENDEZ to Florida, in 1565, as interpreter. "This memoir," says BRINTON, "is particularly valuable in locating the ancient Indian tribes of Florida, and was written after the death of MENENDEZ."

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CHAPTER I.

I HAVE the honor to inform you that Florida and the Lucayan Islands are situate on one side of the Bahama (old) Channel, which passes between Havanna (Cuba) and Florida. But nearer the mainland, extending from east to west, lie other islands, called the Martyrs (Los Martires), on account of the great number of men who have been put to death there; and on the rocks of the coast, where a great many have been shipwrecked. These islands are inhabited by a tall race of men and women graceful and well-featured. There are two Indian villages on these islands, one of which is called Guaragunve or the Village of Tears (Pueblo de Llante); and the other, smaller in size, Cuchiyaga, which signifies the place where martyrdom has been suffered. These Indians possess neither gold nor, silver, and still less clothing, for they go almost naked, wearing only a sort of apron. The dress of the men consists of braided palm-leaves, and that of the women of moss, which grows on trees, and somewhat resembles wool. Their common food consists of fish, to be submerged in many places; nevertheless, he took possession of the country in the name of his Majesty, and gave it the name of Bay of Bas-Fonde. From thence he sailed ten leagues further to the east, where he discovered a bay which he named Filipina,* it being the largest and most commodious bay on the coast. The entrance is in 30½ degrees; and on entering the bay, he passed the point of an island [now called Santa Rosa] seven leagues long, and steered E.S.E. On the other side of the bay lies the mainland, which is, perhaps, half a league wide from point to point. Of all the discoveries made from east to west, there is no bay so accessible and commodious as this. The bottom is of mud, and the harbor is from four to five fathoms deep at low tide. The channel is three to four fathoms deep, and at high water near one fathom more. The climate is very healthy, and similar to that of Spain. It abounds in all kinds of fish and oysters. The pine forests are extensive, and can be used for ship-building. There are, besides, live oak, cypress, ash, palmetto, laurel, cedar, and other trees, one of which yields a fruit resembling the chestnut. All of these trees commence to grow near the shore, and extend for many leagues into the interior of the country.

Small rivulets of water fall into the bay, where there is a large opening which appears to be the mouth of a great river. While in this bay, he went to examine the water on the north side, where the trees are not so dense, and where cavaliers might hold their tournaments, and find grass for their horses. In the rear of this bay, in an easterly direction, are high hills of a reddish clay, from which earthenware can be maanufactured. Here can at all times be seen turtles, snails, tunny-fish, and whales, which they catch in their seasons. Some of them also eat the wolf-fish, but this is not a common thing, owing to certain distinctions which they make between proper food for the chiefs and that of their subjects. On these islands is found a shell-fish known as the langosta, a sort of lobster, and another known in a great variety of wild game, such as eagles, turkeys, geese, ducks, partridges, doves, etc. On the shores of this bay, he observed a large number of canoes which the Indians use when they go to fish and hunt game, as well as Indian huts, surrounded with maize, beans, and pumpkins. He took possession of this country in the name of his Majesty, which is distant about two hundred and sixty leagues from the port of San-Juan-de-Lua [Vera Cruz].

(sic) There are also on the islands a great number of animals, especially deer; and on some of them large bears are found. These islands extend from west to east, and as the mainland of Florida lies at no great distance to the eastward, these animals could easily pass over from the peninsula, and thence from island to island. To us, however, who found ourselves prisoners there, it seemed strange to see deer in the island of Cuchiyaga, and also to hear them frequently spoken of elsewhere. There are many other things which I could tell about, but must omit them for the present, for those of more importance. On these islands also are found a species of tree or wood, which we call guaiacum or lignum-vitæ (Guaiacum Officinale), and which physicians know is useful for many purposes; also fruit trees of different kinds. It is useless to speak of the great variety of fruits found there. Westward of these islands lies a great channel, through which no pilot dares to pass with a large vessel, because, as stated elsewhere, exist towards the west a number of treeless islands. Formerly they were probably covered with earth which the tides have carried off, leaving only barren shores of sand about seven miles in circumference. They are called The Tortugas, because of the great number of tortoises that collect there to rest during the night. These tortoises are about the size of a large shield, have as much flesh as a cow, are all meat, and still they are fish. Going northward, between Havanna and Florida, and towards the islands, the Tortugas are first met. The Martyr Islands are forty leagues from Havanna, twenty from the Tortugas, and twenty leagues more to Florida,--that is, to arrive at the Indian province of Carlos* (or Calos), of which the name signifies "cruel village." It is thus named because the inhabitants are barbarous and very adroit in the handling of arms. They are masters of a part of the country extending as far as the village of Guasaca, near the Lake Mayaimi, thus named on account of its great size.

* Probably so called from the name of its chief, who, bearing from his Spanish Captives of the grandeur and power of CHARLES V. (Carlos V.), in emulation appropriated the name to himself. "It is still preserved," says BRINTON, "in the Seminole appellation of the Sanybal river, Carlosa-hatchie, Cayo-Hueso (Key West), and Cayo-Vacas, names of the latest residences of the Caloosas, before they were driven from Florida, and went to Havana."

There are several channels, of which the principal one is very wide, and of variable depths. The greatest width, as nearly as I can remember, from the report of the Indians, is towards the Bermuda Islands. I shall now say no more on this subject, but describe the group of the Martyr Islands lying to the northward.

These islands terminate near an Indian village called Tegesta,* built on the borders of a river, which takes its rise in the interior. It runs through fifteen leagues of country, and flows from a fresh-water lake, which the Indians visit and pretend it forms a part of Lake Mayaimi (Okechobee). This lake is situated in the midst of the country, and is surrounded by a great number of villages of from thirty to forty inhabitants each, who live on bread made from roots during most of the year. They cannot procure it, however, when the waters of the lake rise very high. They have roots which resemble the truffles of this country (Spain), and have besides excellent fish. Whenever game is to be had, either deer or birds, they eat meat. Large numbers of very fat eels are found in the rivers, some of them as large as a man's thigh, and enormous trout, almost as large as a man's body; although smaller ones are also found. The natives eat lizards, snakes, and rats, which infest the lakes, fresh-water turtles, and many other animals which it would be tiresome to enumerate. They live in a country covered with swamps and cut up by high bluffs. They have no metals nor anything belonging to the Old World. They go naked, except the women, who wear little aprons woven of shreds of palm. They pay tribute to CARLOS, composed of all the objects I have spoken, such as fish, game, roots, deer-skins, etc.

* The province of Tegesta is situated to the west(?) [actually east]  of the Caloosa, and embraced a string of villages stretching from Cape Canaveral to the southern extremity of Florida. The more northern portion was, says BRINTON, called Ais, from the native word aisa, deer. The residence of the paracoussi, or chief, was near Cape Canaveral (Corientes).

CHAPTER II.

I THINK from what I was told by some Indians from the islands of Jeaga, at the beginning of the Bahamas, that the auditor LUCAS VASQUEZ D'AYLLON,* of San Domingo, accompanied by six of his planters, came in vessels to visit this country and the river St. Helena, situated seven leagues to the northward, on the banks of which is a village named Orista, but which by mistake they called Chicora. They saw another village, named Quale but called by them Gualdape: these are all they visited, as they did not explore the interior. The truth is, there is neither gold nor silver within sixty leagues of this place, although I am informed there are both gold and copper mines* in the interior, towards the north. On the banks of a river and of some of the lakes, are the Indian villages of Otopali, Olgatano, and many others. The people are not of the Chichimèque race, nor are they of the same race as the inhabitants of the river Jordan. Their principal king is called, in the language of the Carlos Indians, Zertepe, and is superior to all the other chiefs, as MONTEZUMA was. In that portion of the country which LUCAS VASQUEZ D'AYLLON and other Spaniards visited, the inhabitants are very poor. Some small pearls are found there, however, in the shell-fish. The natives live on fish, large oysters, roasted or raw, deer, roe-buck, and other animals. When the men go out to hunt, the women collect wood and water to boil or broil their food. If the Spaniards found gold there at any time, it must have been brought there from a great distance, probably from the mountains of the domains of the king of whom I have just spoken. It has been said the Indians of Cuba worshiped the river of Jordan, but that is not true.

END PART I