BUSHNELL] NATIVE VILLAGES AND VILLAGE SITES 15 
Carolina. It now appears the Guale, undoubtedly a Muskhogean 
tribe, were, about the beginning of the sixteenth century, the occu- 
pants of the islands lying off the coast of Georgia, and consequently 
were the people first met by the early Spanish explorers. 
Northern Florida was the early home of a group of tribes now desig- 
nated the Timucuan, of which, unfortunately, very little is known. 
They were first encountered by Ponce de Leon in 1513 near the site 
of the present city of St. Augustine, and were later mentioned by 
other Spanish leaders. They were probably the builders of the ma- 
jority of the ancient mounds standing in northern and central 
Florida, some of which were reared after the coming of the Europeans. 
The name of the group is derived from that of one of the principal 
tribes who occupied the eastern-central part of the territory, in the 
vicinity of St. Augustine and extending along the middle portion of 
the St. John River. Other tribes of this linguistic family lived on the 
Gulf coast of the peninsula from Tampa Bay northward to the Ocilla 
River, there reaching the southern Muskhogean tribes, the Apa- 
lachee. The latter when first met by the Spaniards in 1528 was an 
important and numerous people and so continued until the close of 
the following century. In the year 1703 their country was invaded 
by the expedition led by Governor Moore, of Carolina, their lands and 
villages were laid waste, many were killed, and still more were led 
into slavery, while those who escaped scattered among the neighbor- 
ing peoples. Soon after this war many from the lower Creek towns 
on the Flint and Chattahoochee moved into Florida, and became the 
Seminole, the ‘‘ Runaway,” of later days, their numbers being aug- 
mented from time to time by others from the Creek towns. 
Another important stock remains to be mentioned, and there is 
reason to believe it was once far more numerous and powerful in the 
region east of the Mississippi than when it first appeared in history. 
When Europeans entered the southern part of the present State of 
Ohio they found it destitute of a fixed population. This rich and 
fertile section of the valley of the Ohio, on both sides of the river, had 
been abandoned by its former occupants and now served as a hunting 
ground for the neighboring tribes. It was crossed by several im- 
portant trails over which war parties from the surrounding tribes 
passed and repassed in their journeys to and beyond the Ohio. But 
it is evident the region had only recently been the home of a com- 
paratively numerous people, as shown by the many village sites and 
cemeteries, mounds, and other earthworks, encountered in all parts 
of the valley. There is a well-established legend among certain 
Siouan tribes living at the present time far west of the Mississippi, of 
their migration down the valley of the Ohio from the east. When 
the mouth of that river was reached some went down the Mississippi 
and settled on the west bank within the present State of Arkansas. 
