26 MYTHS OF THK CHEKOKKK [eth.ann,19 



elsewhere, the Iiiduin.s received the white men with tcindness and hos- 

 pitality — so mueh so that the name of Guaxule became to the army a 

 synonym for good fortune.' Among other things they gave the Span- 

 iards 300 dogs for food, although, according to the Elvas narrative, 

 the Indians themselves did not eat them." The principal orticers of 

 the expedition were lodged in the "chief's house," by which we arc to 

 understand the townhouse, which was upon a high hill with a roadway 

 to the top.-^ From a close study of tlie narrative it appears that this 

 "hill" was no other than the great Nacoochee mound, in White 

 county, Georgia, a few miles northwest of the present Clarkesviile.* 

 It was within the Cherokee territory, and the town was probably a 

 settlement of that tribe. From here De Soto sent runners ahead to 

 notify the chief of C'hiaha of his approach, in order tliat sufficient corn 

 might be ready on his arrival. 



Leaving Guaxule, they proceeded down the river, which we identity 

 with the Chattahoochee, and in two days arrived at Ciinasoga. or Cana- 

 sagua, a frontier town of the Cherokee. As they neared the town 

 they were met by the Indians, bearing baskets of '" nnilberries,''" more 

 probably the delicious service-berry of th(> southern mountains, which 

 ripens in early summer, while the nudberry matures later. 



From here they continued dow n the river, which grew constantly 

 larger, through an uninhabited country which formed the disputed 

 territory between the Cherokee and the Creeks. About five days after 

 leaving Canasagua they were met ))y messengers, who escorted them 

 to Chiaha, the first town of the province of Co^a. De Soto had crossed 

 the state of (xeorgia, leaving the Cherokee country behind him, and 

 was now among the Lower Creeks, in the neighborhood of the present 

 Columbus, Georgia." With his subsequent wanderings after crossing 

 the C'hattahoochee into Alabama and beyond we need not concern 

 ourselves (8). 



While resting at Chiaha De Soto met with a chief who confirmed 

 what the Spaniards had heard before concerning mines in the province 

 of Chi.sca, saying that there was there "a melting of copper" and of 

 another metal of about the same color, but softer, and therefon* not so 

 much used.' The province was northward fi-om Chiaha, somewhere in 

 upper Georgia or the adjacent part of Alabama or Tennessee, through 

 all of which mountain region native copper is found. The other 

 mineral, which the Spaniards understood to be gold, may have been 

 iron pyrites, although there is some evidence that the Indians occa- 

 sionally found and shaped gold nuggets." 



1 Ranjel.in Oviedo, Historia, i. p. 563, 1851. 



-Elvas, Biedma. and Ranjel all make special reference to the dogs given them at this place: they 

 seem to have been of the same small breed ( " perrillos ") which Ranjel says the Indians used for food. 

 'Garcilaso, La Florida del Inca, p. 139, 1723. < See note 8, De Soto's route. 



5 See Elvas, Hakluyt Society, ix,p. 01, 1S51; and Ranjel, op. cit., p. .563. 

 •* See note 8, De Soto's route. ^ Elvas, op. cit., p. 64. 



