430 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
of gunmen here at 180, although they themselves placed it at 300. 1 It 
was then the largest town in the nation. The census of 1832 gives 
them seven distinct settlements and a total population of 1,918 
Indians and 134 slaves. 2 They are now, of course, much reduced in 
numbers. 
The estimate of Coweta men in 1738 was 132, 3 in 1750, 80 + , 4 in 
1760, 150, 5 and in 1761, 130 hunters are enumerated. 6 Taitt (1772) 
gives 220 gunmen in "Coweta, Little Coweta, and Bigskin Creek," 7 
and Marbury (1792) puts the number of men in Coweta and its vil- 
lages at 280 (p. 434). Hawkins places the number of gunmen in 
Coweta Tallahassee and its out villages in 1799 at 66 by actual count 
against a claimed total by the people themselves of 100, but he 
furnishes no figure for Coweta itself. 8 The census of 1832 enumerated 
five Coweta settlements with a total population of 896 Indians and 67 
slaves. 9 To this must be added the Indians of Broken Arrow, 10 which, 
if we could trust this census, would increase the Coweta Indians by 
1,082 Indians and 59 slaves. 9 It is evident, however, that among 
the five Broken Arrow towns here enumerated two or three are really 
Okfuskee villages and probably only the two first mentioned towns 
represent this division. If this is so, the Broken Arrow population 
would number only 438 Indians and 31 slaves, which would raise the 
total Coweta population to 1,334 Indians and 99 slaves. They have 
since fallen off very rapidly in numbers. 
The Coosa Indians were evidently powerful and numerous in De 
Soto's time. Pardo reported that in 1567 the Coosa town had 150 
neighborhoods — i. e., small villages. 11 Garcilasso says there were 
500 houses, but he is notoriously given to exaggeration when it comes 
to figures of any sort. 12 Those of the De Luna expedition who visited 
Coosa in 1559 reported that the principal town of the province had 
30 houses, a figure which may be accepted as approximately correct. 
They add that there were seven other villages in its neighborhood, 
"five of them smaller and two larger," and allowing 20 houses 
on the average to each of these we should have about 170 
houses, by which I suppose we are to understand 170 different family 
establishments. 13 This would furnish the amount of leeway that 
i Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls., m, p. 59. 
2 Sen. Doc. 512, 23d Cong., 1st sess., iv, pp. 363-398. 
'Copy of MS., Ayer Coll. 
« MS., Ayer Coll. 
5 Miss. Prov. Arch., i, p. 96. 
» Ga. Col. Rec, vm, p. 522. 
7 Trav. in Am. Col., p. 549. 
s Ga. Hist. Soc. Colls., in, p. 56. 
s Sen. Doc. 512, 23d Cong., 1st sess., IV, pp. 379-386. 
io The population of Broken Arrow is referred to by only one other writer. This is David Taitt in 1772, 
who gives 60 gunmen. See Mereness, Trav. in Am. Col., p. 549. 
« Ruidiaz, La Florida, n, p. 484. 
w Garcilasso, in Shipp, De Soto and Fla., p. 374. 
i» Barcia, La Florida, p. 32. 
