342 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
their name alive. Ultimately, even these must have been absorbed 
by the invading Seminole. 
It is somewhat singular that during this period of intense missionary 
activity in northern Florida the Indians in the southern part of the 
peninsula had been left for the most part to their own devices. They 
would perhaps have been left entirely alone had it not been for the 
numerous shipwrecks on their coast and the necessity of protecting 
the lives and property of those cast away among them. Shortly 
after founding St. Augustine, Menendez visited the head chiefs of 
Calos and Tocobaga, the latter probably Timucua, however. 1 
In 1566 we learn that the Takesta protected some Spaniards from 
the chief of Calos, 2 and in the legend on an early Spanish map it is 
stated that the Indians in that neighborhood had been converted by 
Pedro Menendez Marques. They afterwards abandoned their spiritual 
but retained their political allegiance. 3 During or just before 1570 
there was war between the Spaniards and the people of Ais, for we 
read in an early manuscript that, in accordance with the terms of a 
treaty of peace made with Ais in 1570, 40 reales were given to the 
chief of Colomas [Ulumay], " a land of the Cacique of Ays," and 80 to 
the chief of Rea in the same province. It is probable that the last 
name has been miscopied. 4 In 1597 Governor Mendez de Canco 
traveled from the head of the Florida Keys to St. Augustine. The 
chief of Ais met him with 15 canoes and more than 80 Indians. 5 In 
a letter written the year following Canco says that this chief had 
more Indians than any other between those two points. 5 The Ais 
are mentioned in connection with the Curruque expedition about the 
same time but they were only incidentally concerned in it. 6 
In 1605 an Ais Indian called Chico, or the Little Captain, evidently 
a subordinate chief, came to St. Augustine with 24 warriors to offer 
his services to Governor Ibarra, who, he had heard, was at war with 
the French and English. Complaint was made that the Indians of 
Nocoroco had bewitched the cousin of the grand chief of Ais. A 
messenger was sent to confer with the grand chief and promise was 
made that some young Spaniards would be sent to learn the Ais lan- 
guage. 5 In 1607 Governor Ibarra states that during Holy Week he 
had received visits from the chief of Santa Lucia, Don Luis, the Little 
Captain of Ais, Don Juan Gega, and others, "who are the principal 
lords of the mouth of the Miguel Mora." 3 This name was given to 
the opening between the Florida mainland and the keys on the 
eastern side. From a letter written the following year it appears 
' Lowery, Span. Sett]., n, pp. 228-243, 277-280; Barcia, Florida, pp. 94-98, 125-129. 
2 Barcia, Florida, p. 124. 
a Brooks, MSS. 
* Copy of MS. in Ayer Coll., Newberry Library. 
6 Lowery, MSS. 
« See pp. 336-337. 
