bwanton] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 85 
Such arc the principal facts concerning the lirst Spanish explora- 
tions and attempts at colonization upon the coast of the Carolinas. 
Before giving the information obtained through them regarding the 
aborigines of the country and their customs it will he necessary to 
determine as nearly as possible the location of the three rivers men- 
tioned in the relations, the River of St. John the Baptist, the River 
•Ionian, and the River Gualdape. an undertaking which has been 
attempted already in the most painstaking manner, by the historians 
Harrisse, Shea, and Lowery. 1 
So far as the River Jordan is concerned, there is scarcely the 
shadow of a doubt that it was the Santee. The identification is 
indicated by evidence drawn from a great many early writers, and 
practically demonstrated by the statements of two or three of the 
more careful navigators. Ecija, for instance, places its mouth in 
N. lat. 33° 11', which is almost exactly correct. 2 A very careful 
pilot's description appended to the account of his second voyage 
puts it only a little higher. 2 Furthermore, tribes that can be iden- 
tified readily as the Sewee and Santee are mentioned by him and 
they are on this river in the positions they later occupied. He 
states also, on the authority of the Indians, that a trail led from the 
mouth of it to a town near the mountains called Xoada, which is 
readily recognizable as the Siouan Cheraw tribe. 2 Now, as Mr. 
Mooney has shown, 3 and as all evidence indicates, the Cheraw were 
at this time at the head of Broad River. The Pedee or the Cape 
Fear would have carried travelers to the Cheraw miles out of their 
way. Finally it must be remembered that the name Jordan was 
applied to a certain river during the entire Spanish period in the 
Southeast. It had a definite meaning, and when the English settled 
the country Spanish cartographers were at no loss to identify their 
Jordan under its new English name, so that Navarrete says that 
"on some ancient maps there is a river at thirty-three degrees North, 
which they name Jordan or Santee. " 4 One of the reasons for uncer- 
tainty regarding it is the fact that the ancient Cape San Roman, 
from which the Jordan is frequently located, is not the present Cape 
Romain, but apparently Cape Fear, and is thus universally repre- 
sented as north of the Jordan instead of south of it. The argument 
could be elaborated at length, but it is unnecessary. The burden of 
proof is rather on him who would deny the identification. 
With regard to the other two rivers we have no such certain evi- 
dence, and their exact positions will probably always remain in doubt. 
1 tip. lit. Bull. 22, Bur. Amor. Kthn., p. 57. 
*Lowery, MSS., Lib. Cong. » Navarrete, Col.,m, i>. 7i). 
