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SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. /S 



The shores of Tampa Bay — Espi'ritu Santo Bay of earlier maps — 

 are interesting as liaving been the landing place of DeSoto and his 

 numerous party in the year 1539, when "On Friday the 30th of 

 May they landed in Florida, two leagues from a towne of an 

 Indian lord, called Ucita." Unfortunately, the exact position of 

 this ancient settlement is not known, but from the manner in 

 which it was approached from the Gulf, as told in the Spanish 

 narratives, it must have stood near the deeper channel which is 

 found on the east and south sides of Tampa Bay, away from Pinel- 

 las Peninsula. 



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Fig. 121. — Large mound, formed of shells and sand, standing about midway 

 between Maximo Point and Point Pinelos. The graded way, or approach 

 to the summit, is on the left. Camera pointed northeast. 



Three classes of works can be distinguished on the peninsula, all 

 of which were erected near the shore. First are the large mounds, 

 of a definite form, composed of shells and sand ; second are the 

 sand mounds ; and third are the shellheaps, of no clearly defined 

 shape, which resulted from the extensive use of shellfish for food. 



Nearly a half century has passed since these mounds were visited 

 by S. T. Walker, of Clearwater, Florida, at that time connected 

 with the U. S. Fish Commission, and by whom they were briefly 

 described in the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for the year 

 1879. The most important work is in the extreme southern part 



