200 MYTHS OF THE CHEROKEE [eth.ann. 1 



There is no large island in either tlie Coosa or the Chattahoochee, and we are 

 forced to the conclusion that what the chronicle describes as an island was really a 

 portion of the bottom land temporarily i:ut off l>y Imck water from a freshet. In a 

 similar way "The Slue," east of Flint river in Mitchell county, may have been 

 formed l>y a shifting of the river cliannel. Two months later, in Alabama, the 

 Spaniards reached a river so swollen by rains that they were obliged to wait six 

 days before they could cross (Elvas). Lederer, while iTossing South Carolina in 

 1G70, found his fartlier progress barred by a "great lake," which he puts on his map 

 as "Ushery lake," although there is no such lake in tlie state; but the mystery is 

 explained by Lawson, who, in going over tlie same ground thirty years later, found 

 all the bottom lands mider water from a great flood, the Santee in particular being 

 3(i feet above its normal level. As Lawson was a surveyor his figures may lie con- 

 sidered reliable. The "Ushery lake" of Lederer was simply an overflow of Catawba 

 river. Flood water in the streams of upper Georgia and Alabama would (jnickly be 

 carried off, but would be apt to remain for some time on the more level country 

 below the falls. 



According to information supplied liy Mr Thomas Robinson, an expert engineering 

 authority familiar with the lower Chattahoocliee, there was formerly a large mound, 

 now almost entirely washed away, on the eastern bank of the river, about nine miles 

 below Columlius, while on the western or Alabama bank, a mile or two farther <lown, 

 there is still to be seen another of nearly equal size. "At extreme freshets both of 

 these mounds were partly submerged. To the east of the former, known as the 

 Indian momid, the flood plain is a jiiile or two wide, and along the eastern side of 

 the plain stretches a series of swamps or wooded sloughs, indicating an old river bed. 

 All the plain between the present ri\'er and the sloughs is river-made laud. The 

 river bluff along by the mound on the Georgia side is from twenty to thirty feet above 

 the present low-water .surface of the stream. About a mile above the mound are the 

 remains of what was known as Jennies island. At ordinary stages of the ri\er no 

 island is there. The eastern channel was blocked by government works some 

 years ago, and the whole is tille<l up and now used as a cornfield. The island 

 remains can be traced now, I think, for a length of half a mile, with a possible 

 extreme width of 300 feet. . . . This whole country, on both sides of the river, 

 is full of Indian lore. I have mentioned both mounds simply to indicate that this 

 portion of the river was an Indian locality, and have also stated the facts about the 

 remainsof Jennies island in order togive a po.ssible clew to a professional who might 

 study the ground. "—Letter, April 22, 1900. 



Chiaha was the first town of the " province of Cofa," the territory of the Coosa or 

 Creek Indians. The next town mentioned, C!oste (Elvas and Ranjel), Costehe 

 (Biedma) or Acosfe (Garcilaso), was Kasi'ta, or Cusseta, as it was afterward known 

 to the whites. While Garcilaso puts it at the lower end of the same island upon 

 which Chiaha was situated, the Elvas narrative makes it seven days distant! The 

 modern towns of Chehaw and Cusseta were within a few miles of each other on the 

 Chattahoochee, the former being on the western or Alabama side, while Cusseta, in 

 1799, was on the east or Georgia side about eight nriles below the falls at Columlius, 

 and in Chattahoochee county, which has given its capital the same name, Cusseta. 

 From the general tone of the narrative it is evident tliat the two towns were near 

 together in De Soto's time, and it may be that the Elvas chronicle confounded Kasi'ta 

 with Koasati, a principal Upper Creek town, a short distance below the junction of 

 the Coosa and Tallapoosa. At Coste they crossed the river and continued westward 

 "through many towns subject to the cacique of Co^a" (Elvas) until they came to the 

 great town of Cofa itself. This was Kusa or Coosa, the ancient capital of the Upper 

 Creeks. There were two towns of this name at different periods. One, described by 

 Adair in 1775 as "the great and old lieloved town of refuge, Koosah," was on the east 

 bank of Coosa river, a few miles southwest of the present Talladega, .Mabania. The 



