s wanton] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 113 
idolatrous practice, so he burnt the boxes with the corpses. We 
also found pieces of linen and cloth, and feather headdresses that 
seemed to be from New Spain, and samples of gold." 
The narrative continues as follows: 
We inquired of the Indians (by signs) whence they had obtained these things and 
they gave us to understand that very far from there, was a province railed Apalachen, 
in which tbere was ranch gold. They also signified to us that in that province we 
would find everything we held in esteem. They said that in Apalachen there was 
plenty. 1 
The form "Apalachen" here given seems to contain the Muskho- 
gean objective ending -/>, which by a stranger would often be taken 
over as a necessary part of the word. The people among whom the 
Spaniards then were, were Timueua, therefore the mistake was 
perhaps on the part of the Indians, but more likely it is the form as 
heard by the Spaniards afterwards from the Apalaehee themselves. 
The Spaniards continued their journey in search of this province and 
"came in sight of Apalachen without having been noticed by the 
Indians of the land" on the day after St. John's Day. 2 
Cabeza continues thus: 
Once in sight of Apalachen, the governor commanded me to enter the village with 
nine horsemen and fifty foot. So the inspector and I undert< >ok this. Upon penetrat- 
ing into the village we found only women and boys. The men were not there at the 
time, but soon, while we were walking about they came and began to fight, shooting 
arrows at us. They killed the inspector's horse, but finally fled and left us. We 
found there plenty of ripe maize ready to be gathered and much dry corn already 
housed. We also found many deer skins and among them mantles made of thread 
and of poor quality, with which the women cover parts of their bodies. They had 
many vessels [mortars] for grinding [or rather pounding] maize. The village con- 
tained forty small and low houses, reared in sheltered places, out of fear of the great 
storms that continuously occur in the country. The buildings are of straw, and they 
are surrounded by dense timber, tall trees and numerous water-pools, where there 
were so many fallen trees and of such size as to greatly obstruct and impede circulation. 3 
Below he adds: 
In the province of Apalachen the lagunes are much larger than those we found pre- 
viously. There is much maize in this province and the houses are scattered all over 
the country as much as those of the Gelves. 4 
Following is the account of the rest of their dealings with the 
Apalaehee : 
Two hours after we arrived at Apalachen the Indians that had fled came back peace- 
ably, begging us to give back to them their women and children, which we did. The 
governor, however, kept with him one of their caciques, at which they became so 
angry as to attack us the following day. They did it so swiftly and with so much 
audacity as to set fire to the lodges we occupied, but when we sallied forth they fled to 
i Bandolier, Journey of Cabeza de Vaca, pp. 12-13. 3 Ibid., pp. 25-20. 
s Ibid., p. 24. Ibid., p. 27. 
148061°— 22 8 
