swan-ton] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 255 
Ranjel speaks of the grapes of this place as of particular excellence, 
better than any the Spaniards had tasted in Coosa, or farther north. 
Here it was learned the Indians had planned to attempt to rescue the 
chief of Coosa, whom 1 )e Soto carried along as prisoner, but the Coosa 
chief commanded them to lay aside their arms, which they did. 1 Of 
course the Spaniards interpreted this action as that of vassals obey- 
ing the commands of their lord, but the relations between the two 
towns were probably merely of alliance and friendship. 
The sergeant major and 200 soldiers sent in search of Coosa by De 
Luna in 1560 reached this place after a long and toilsome journey. 
Pad ilia says: 
. . . On the fiftieth day after their departure from Nanipacna, they discovered, 
on the hanks of a river, several little Indian houses, fchesighl of which was a very great 
consolation to those, who in the immense solitude and almost facing starvation, had 
not seen a human inhabitant of those parts. The biggesl river there was called Oli- 
bahali and had a more numerous population, which, even so, was quite small. In those 
hamlets they had corn, beans, and calabashes, but their abundance meant almost 
famine to the state of starvation the Spaniards were in. When the Indians per- 
ceived armed Spaniards they feared ill treatment as they had received it in the past, 
but being reassured, they returned to their houses, and the Spaniards retired outside 
the villages, thus avoiding frightening them. Through interpreters they eommuni- 
cated with them, giving them clothes in exchange for corn, which to both parties 
meant a greal deal. The Spaniards needed food and found bread by means of these 
exchanges; the Indians did not wish any money, as they did not know it nor had they 
appreciated its value at any time since their remotest antiquity. What they value 
most are clothes and they treasured on this occasion the ribbons and the trinkets of 
colored heads which the Spaniards gave them. The soldiers were very glad for a rest 
at that place, although not free from misgivings concerning the Indians. They put 
out sentinels at night, as much in order to prevent the Indians from harming them, 
as their own men from going over among the Indians. At least they were all fed and 
it was necessary to remain at that place for several days, waiting for some of their com- 
panions who had remained behind, partly for lack of food and partly on account of 
illness, and those were the first days since they had left Nanipacna that they really 
ceased walking. . . . 
Although the Indians of Olihahali showed themselves to be friends of the Spaniards, 
and were at peace with them, they may not have wished so many on account of the 
impairment to their food staples which they gathered to last them a whole year, and 
which their guests consumed within a few days. The corn was beginning to give 
out, and fearing still greater need, which was sure to come at that pace, they resorted 
to a wary invention to get the Spaniards out of their country. He who says that the 
Indians are barbarians and lack cunning, does not know them. They have cunning, 
and the vexations indicted upon them by the Spaniards have made them more and 
mere skilled with the many opportunities afforded them by the Spaniards. One day 
just after sunset, the dark of night fast approaching, an Indian arrived at the camp 
of the Spaniards, who. to judge from his appearance and demeanor, seemed to be a 
chief: he was accompanied by four other Indians. He carried the emblems of an 
amhassador. and he stated thai he was such, and came from the great province of Coza. 
He carried in his hand a cane of six palmos 2 in length, adorned at the top with white 
feathers, which appeared to he those of :l heron. It was the custom of the Indians to 
1 Bourne. X.irr. of De Soto, I, pp. 84-85; n, pp. 113-114. 
J ' >ne "palmo" is aboul 8 inches. 
