712 MOUND EXPLORATIONS. 



of Virgiuiii is fouud iiicutioii of copper traded to the Indiaus for food 

 or pelts. 80 abundant was the supply, as learned from this author, 

 that in a short time goods " could not be had for a pound of copper 

 which before was sold lis for an ounce.'' ' Strachey, iiotwithsfainding 

 what he previously stated in regard to minerals of this country, and 

 among them copper, remarks as follows : 



It hath be(<ii Powhatan's great care to keep u« by all lucans from tlie acquaiutauce 

 of those nations that border and confront liiin, for besides his knowledge how easily 

 and Avillingly his enemies will be drawn upon him by the least countenance and en- 

 couragement from lis, he doth, by keeping us from trading with them, monopolize all 

 the copper brought into A'irginia by the English. And whereas the English are now 

 content to receive in exchange a few measures of corn for a great deal of that mettell 

 ( valuing yt according to the extreme price yt bears with them, not to the estymacion 

 yt hath with us), Powhatan doth again vend some small f|uantity thereof to his 

 neighbor nations for one hundred tyme the value, reserving, notwithstanding, for 

 himself a plentiful (luautify to leavy men withal when he sh.ill find cause to use 

 them against us, for the before remembered weroance of Paspahegh did once wage 

 fourteen or fifteen weroaiices to assi.st him in the attempt u]Kin the fort of .lames- 

 towne, for one copper plate promised to each weroance. - 



But European copper fouud its way into the country along the Atlan- 

 tic coast long before the settlement iu Virginia. The various voyagers 

 who sailed along the shore, and there were many of whom no account 

 is on record, all left more or less of this metal in the hands of the In- • 

 dians. Much also was doubtless obtained from shipwrecked vessels. 

 Hawkins, who touched the coasts of Florida in loCi-'Go, says that when 

 the French first arrived in that region gold and silver were obtained in 

 considerable amount from the Ijidians, but the supply ere long gave out. 



How they came by this gold and silver the Frenchman knew not as yet, but by 

 guess, who having traveled to the southw est of the cape, having found the same dan- 

 gerous, liy means of simdry banks, as we have also found the same ; and there finding 

 masts which were wrecks of .Spaniards coming from Mexico, judged that they had 

 gotten treasure by them. For it is most true that divers wrecks have been made of 

 Spaniards having much treasure, for the Frenchmen having traveled cape-ward an 

 hundred and fifty miles did find two Spaniards with the Floridians, which they 

 brought afterwards to their fort, whereof one was in a caraval coming from the 

 Indies which was cast away fourteen years ago, and the other twelve years ; of whose 

 fellows some escaped, other some were slain by the inhabitants. It seemeth they 

 had estimation of their gold and silver, for it is wrought flat and graven, which 

 they wear about their necks, other some round like a pancake with a hole iu the 

 midst to bolster up their breasts withal.' 



We seem also t^i have proof in the preceding statement that the 

 Indians engraved figures on metallic articles, which is a very important 

 item in this connection, if true. 



Laudonniere asserts that it Avas gotten out of the ships that were lost 

 upon the coast.'' 



llelics of the unfortunate expedition of Ayllou were dug up by De 

 Soto's followers from a grave or mound at Cutifachiqui, an Indian town 



' Smith's History of Virginia, liichmoud repriut, 1819, vol. I, p. IBfi. 

 2 His. of Travels Into Va. Cap. vui, p. 103. London, 1849. 

 sHaklii.vt, III. p. '015. ' Hakluyt. Ill, p. :ili9. 



