Some Considerations on the Mound Builders. 81 



trenchments and charcoal mound were not made by 

 Europeans. 



De Soto, marching north across Alabama, reached a 

 river which he crossed in boats that he built, in Decem- 

 ber, 1 540. He took possession of the little Indian 

 town Chicaca, and went into winter-quarters. The In- 

 dians made a sudden night attack, set fire to the town, 

 and the surprised Spaniards lost everything. De Soto 

 gathered all the fragments of metal from the ashes, 

 moved to another town half a league off, and there tem- 

 pered the sword blades and made new lances, saddles, 

 and implements. Herrera says, De Soto fortified this 

 camp of refuge. 



This Chicaca has been generally supposed to have 

 been in the northern part of the present State of Mis- 

 sissippi. But it may be that the works two miles below 

 Savannah mark its site, while the group on the edge of 

 the town of Savannah, including the charcoal mound, 

 mav indicate the place where De Soto repaired his 

 armament. 



