610 swanton: siouan tribes of the east 



will find little in it that can not be accounted for without im- 

 pugning the honest intentions of the writer or his Indian inform- 

 ant. A close examination of the Ayllon narratives leads to the 

 belief that Francisco of Chicora came from that part of the Atlan- 

 tic coast of the Carolinas occupied by Siouan tribes, and in all 

 probability from the neighborhood of the present Winyaw bay. 

 Among several reasons for this belief may be cited the charac- 

 teristic r sounds in the words, as in the name Chicora itself, 

 which is so conspicuous among the Siouan dialects of this region. 

 The material recorded by Peter Martyr contains some informa- 

 tion regarding the economic lives of the people and their cus- 

 toms, some notes touching upon their myths, medical practice, 

 etc., and particularly accounts of three of their ceremonies. 

 Some trees also are mentioned and the native names borne by 

 them. It should be noticed that most of this information con- 

 cerns, not Chicora, but a neighboring province called Duhare or 

 Duache. 



A little further light is let in upon these people by documents 

 in the Lowery collection, preserved in the Manuscripts Division 

 of the Library of Congress, particularly by the narratives of two 

 expeditions from St. Augustine under the command of Francisco 

 Fernandes de Ecija, sent in search of an English colony reported 

 to have been established somewhere to the north. The first of 

 these was in the year 1605. The explorers passed along the 

 coasts of Georgia and South Carolina until they came to the 

 "barra de Cayegua," now Charleston harbor. Not far beyond 

 was the bar of Joye, and twelve leagues beyond that a sandy 

 point near which was the river Jordan. This latter (placed by 

 the explorers in N. Lat. 33° 11') was, as we know well, the Santee, 

 and the sandy point near by was evidently Cape Romain. It 

 must be observed that the Cape San Roman of the Spaniards is 

 not the Cape Romain of today, but probably Cape Fear, and we 

 must not be surprised, therefore, to read immediately afterward 

 that it was about 20 leagues from the River Jordan to Cape San 

 Roman. We are informed that the chief of Joye ruled over all 

 the land at the mouth of this river. The Indians told Ecija that 

 it was large and that" the interior people came down it in canoes 



