348 Wright, Early Records of the Wild Turkeij. [I^J* 



losing their feathers or opening and without any bad smell." In 

 another place we find the observation, "There are many fowls in 

 the country tame." Also, in Cibola, "For foo they have. . . . 

 some fowls, like those of IVIexico, and they keep these more for 

 their feathers than to eat, because they make long robes of them, 

 since they do not have cotton." One other record for the same 

 region comes forty years later, 1581-1583. The natives receive 

 the travellers ^ " very courteously, and (bring) them to their 

 townes, where .... they (give) them .... hennes of the countrey, ..." 



In Florida, De Soto in 1539 reports that ^ "They say, that there 

 is to be found in it a great plenty of all the things mentioned, and 

 fowles, guanojos* in yards, . . . . " In the 1854 translation, 

 Buckingham Smith gives "guanojos" as "Turkeys, in the lan- 

 guage spoken by the natives of the Yucayo Islands." 



In 1562, Captain John Ribault finds that ^ "As we passed thorow 

 these woods (River of Port Royal) we saw nothing but Turkey 

 cocks flying in the Forrests, . . . . " In 1564, Laudonniere records 

 that^ "In this meane space the Indians visited me, and brought 

 me dayly certaine presents, as Fish, Deere, Turki-cocks . . . . " 

 In 1586, Nicholas Burgoignon says ^ that they have there great 

 store of Turkic cocks,...." The following year, 1587, "The 

 description of the West Indies, . . . . " relates of Florida that 

 "The foules are Turkey-cocks,. ..." and that the Indians in the 

 winter time feed on them as well as deer, fish and oysters. The 

 same year 1587 in the same work ^ there appears a repetition of the 

 Ribault note with the addition that these turkeys were in woods 

 of oaks, cedars, and Lentiskes. 



In 1601 Antonio de Herrara begins the publication of his 8 

 decades on "The General History of the Vast Continent and 

 Islands of America, commonly called The West Indies." It treats 

 of the period from 1492-1554; and in several places, he alludes to 

 the turkey. Of Griljalva in Yucatan, he says "^ " They (Indians) 



1 Hakluyt, R. Vol. IX, p. 194. 



^ Letter of Hernando de Soto in Florida etc. Jiily 9, 1539, Washington, 1854, 

 p. 9. 



3 Hakluyt, R. Vol. VIII, p. 461. 



4 Ibid., IX, p. 49. 



5 Ibid., IX, p. 114. 



6 Ibis, VIII, pp. 451, 456, 461. 



' Herrara, Antonio de. 1725-1726 London, 3 vols. Translation by Capt. 

 John Stevens, Vol. 2, pp. 126, 349, Vol. 3, p. 353; Vol. 4, pp. 19, 142. 



