swanton] KARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 339 
24, 1676, states thai there were then 70 places for missionaries but 
usually only about 40 to fill them; in 1681 the number of missionaries 
is given as 3 I. 1 The list of missions drawn up in 1680, while showing 
more in the Apalachee province and practically -the same number in 
Guale, exhibits a distinct decrease among the Timueua missions and 
it is evident that some former Timueua missions are largely con- 
cerned with different peoples. In 1688 a letter was written to the 
then King of Spain, Charles II, by several Timueua chiefs, with the 
assistance, of course, of the missionaries. It was a eompanion letter 
to that sent by the Apalachee already mentioned. 2 It was signed 
by Don Francisco, chief of San Matheo; Don Pedro, chief of San 
Pedro; Don Ventura, chief of Asile; Don Diego, chief of Machaua; 
Gregorio, chief of San Juan de Guacara; and. Francisco Martinez, 
residente in San Matheo. 3 These are given in the Spanish version. In 
the Timueua some of these and some parts of the letter do not appear. 
We may assume that the towns mentioned were the chief remaining 
towns of the Timueua. Utina, Potano, Acuera, and the Fresh Water 
district are not represented. In 1697 it is said that the missionary, 
Fray Luis Sanchez, was murdered in Maiaca, which is spoken of as a 
new conversion; and, although this mission bears a Timueua name, 
it is evident that it was then settled largely by Yamasee. 1 
The destruction of the Timueua missions by the Creeks and Eng- 
lish, along with those of the Apalachee and other Florida Indians, 
now followed rapidly, so rapidly that one writer declares the destruc- 
tion of the provinces of Timueua, Apalachee, and Guale took place 
within four or five months. He places the event in the year 1704, 
which is only approximately correct. 4 A royal officer, Juan de Pueyo, 
writing November 10, 1707, says that the province of Florida was 
then being rapidly depopulated by the English and infidel Indians, 
who were extending their depredations southward of St. Augustine. 
He states that 32 settlements of Indians had been destroyed, a num- 
ber almost as great as that of the missions. 4 It is possible that some 
Timueua had revolted along with the Guale Indians and the Yamasee, 
but probably not many did so. The following general account of the 
destruction of the missions, along with some information regarding 
the last Indian villages in Florida before the arrival of the Seminole, 
is contained in a letter by Governor Dionisio de la Vega, written 
August 27, 1728: 
Up to the year 1703, when the English made their first invasion from Carolina 
assisted by the Indians in their interest into the provinces of Apalache and Guale, 
the Indians thereof 1 i ved in ] terfect peace and tranquility ; and from time to time some 
infidel Indian- would come and join them, desirous of pledging their obedience. But 
the said provinces having been destroyed by virtue of said invasions, and all the 
1 Lowery, MSS. 8 Gatschet in Proc. Am. Phil. Soc., xvm, pp. 495-497. 
» See. pp. 12, 120. * Brooks, MSS. 
