70 SIOTJAN TRIBES OF THE EAST. [ 



BITREAr OP 

 ETHNOLOGY 



Pennsylvania and cross over to Ohio valley in tlieir raiding excursions, 

 just as the Iroquois and other northern tribes nsed to penetrate to 

 South Carolina against the Catawba. 



The French had nothing to do with the expulsion of the Catawba 

 from the north, as sliown by the connected accounts of all the impor- 

 tant French dealings with the tribes from their first occupancy. So 

 far from being exterminated, the Waxhaw were found by Lawson liv- 

 ing ou Waxhaw creek in 1701, and were described in detail by him at 

 that time. It is hardly necessary to say that no tribe in the United 

 States ever lost 1,000 warriors in a single battle with another tribe. 

 As for the Erie, there is no question as to their identity; they were 

 an Iroquian tribe on Lake Erie whose conquest and incorporation by 

 the Iroquois is a matter of history. 



From the earliest historical period the Catawba have always lived 

 where the small remnant may still be found, on Catawba river, about 

 on the border of iS'orth Carolina and South Carolina. Westward and 

 northwestward tliey bordered on the Cherokee and Sara, with the 

 former of whom they were in a state of chronic warfare, while on the 

 south and east they had as neighbors several small tribes closely akin 

 to themselves and most of whom afterward united with them in their 

 decline. Their villages Avere chiefly within the present limits of South 

 Carolina. 



Tlie first European acquaintance of the Catawba was with the 

 Spaniards about the middle of the sixteenth century. It is possible 

 that the Guachule of l)e Soto's chroniclers, although evidently situated 

 southwest of Catawba river, is identical with the Usheree or Catawba 

 tribe of the later English writers, as Guatari and Hostaqua are identi- 

 cal with Wateree and Ou stack or Westo, They are mentioned under 

 the name of Issa by the Spanish captain, Juan Pardo, who conducted 

 an expedition from Saint Helena into the interior of South Carolina in 

 1567 (French, 1). 



The next important notice is given a hundredyears later by Lederer, 

 who visited tliese Indians in 1670 and speaks of them under the name 

 of Ushery. lie describes them as living on one side of a great lake, 

 on the farther side of which lived the Oustack (Westo) of whom they 

 were in constant dread. As there is no such lake in that jDart of the 

 country, it is evident that he must have visited the region at a time 

 when the low bottom lands of Catawba river were flooded by heavy 

 rains. The swamp lands of Carolina are subject to heavy overflow, 

 and Lawson records the statement that on his journey he found Santee 

 river risen 36 feet above its normal level. While at war with the Westo, 

 the Catawba in 1670 were in alliance with the Wisacky (Waxhaw), a 

 subordinate neigliboring tribe. Lawson describes the Catawba women 

 as "reasonably handsome,'' and delighting much in feather ornaments, 

 of which they had a great variety. The men were more efieminate 

 and lazy than other Indians generally, a fact which may account for 

 the little importance of the tribe in histor}-. He notes the fact of the 



