swantoh] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK -INDIANS 19 
spoke the truth." 1 Somewhat more equivocal is a reference to an 
interpreter named Diego de Cardenas, who is said to have "under- 
stood the language of Santa Elena and also that of the Province of 
Guale." He himself testifies, in 1601, that he "has heen many 
times in the lengua de Guale and is lengua of that (province) and of 
Escamaeu." 1 Most important of all is, of course, the flat statement 
by Gov. Pedro Menendez Marques, when, in writing in 1580 of the 
Indians of Santa Elena, among whom he then was, he says "they 
speak the Guale language." A more nearly literal translation of the 
words he uses would perhaps be, "It (Santa Elena) pertains to the 
linguistic Province of Guale (viene a la lengua de Guale)." 2 
In his expedition north on the Atlantic coast, to which reference 
has already been made, 3 Governor Ibarra went no farther than Guale 
(St. Catherines Island), but one of the chiefs who came to see him 
at this place was named Oya, in all probability the same as the Ova 
or Hoya mentioned by French and Spaniards as living near the pres- 
ent Beaufort, S. C. 4 While Ibarra was at St. Catherines we also learn 
that "the chief of Aluete said that the chief of Talapo and the chief 
of Ufalague and the chief of Orista, his nephew and heirs, were his 
vassals and had left him and gone to live with the mico of Asao" 
(St. Simons Island); 4 and when the governor came to Asao on his 
return he met them there and had a conference with them. 5 Orista 
was certainly a Cusabo chief, and there is every reason to suppose 
that the others mentioned with him were also Cusabo. As we have 
already stated, in his dealings with the Indians north of Cumber- 
land Island, Governor Ibarra employed two interpreters, Juan de 
Junco and Santiago. There is no hint that any change was made 
after that time, and not the slightest indication that the Cusabo 
employed a language different from that of the Guale Indians, among 
whom Ibarra met them. The chief of Oya is referred to as a "mico" 
along with the chief of Guale, while the chiefs Talapo, Ufalague, and 
Orista seemed to have moved down the coast to Asao as the result 
of some slight disagreement with their neighbors and to have settled 
there as if they were perfectly at home. 
Again, as has already been remarked, while/ and I are absent from 
the Siouan dialects to the north, r is a conspicuous sound, appearing 
in such names as Congaree, Sugeree, Wateree, Shakori, etc. It also 
appears in one form of the name Santee given by Lawson — Seretee. 
On the other hand, it is wanting in all Cusabo names that have come 
down to us — with one or two exceptions which need cause no disturb- 
ance. Thus, the name Orista, given above, appears persistently in 
i Lowcry, MBS. * Serrano y Sanz, Doc. Hist., p. 188. 
2 Lowery and Brooks, MSS. * Ibid., p. 191. 
•Seep. 14. 
