5WANT0N1 INDIANS OF THE S-OUTHEASTEIRN UNITED STATES 31 



their allies — were probably late comers into the Piedmont region 

 of Virginia, which they had apparently reached from the upper 

 Ohio. The same force that caused this migration was perhaps respon- 

 sible for the movement of the Biloxi to the coast of the Gulf of Mex- 

 ico, which conjecturally took place via the Tennessee, Coosa, and 

 Alabama Rivers. Capinans, a Biloxi town or a tribe associated with 

 the Biloxi, may have been the Capitanesses of the earlier Dutch 

 maps, shown on the Juniata in Pennsylvania, or more probably be- 

 yond in eastern Ohio. Shortly after white contact, a Siouan tribe 

 moved from some point on the upper Ohio River to the Cumberland, 

 and thence successively to Arkansas River, to the Taensa at Lake 

 St. Joseph, La., and finally to the Yazoo, where they were known as 

 Ofogoula (Ofo) and established their settlements near the Tunica on 

 the Yazoo. The rest of the Siouan tribes were driven, or moved, 

 toward the west and northwest, and the linguistic test indicates that 

 they had not been long separated from the Biloxi, Ofo, and Tutelo 

 when the whites appeared (S wanton, 1936; Dorsey and S wanton, 

 1912). It was at about this time that the Quapaw must have left the 

 Ohio, known to the Illinois as the River of the Arkansas, for their 

 later homes at the mouth of Arkansas River (Shea, 1861, p. 120). 



Traditional evidence as to Cherokee prehistoric movements is sup- 

 ported, it will be noticed, by that drawn from Spanish documents. 

 Since Hiwassee is a good Cherokee word meaning "savannah," and 

 it appears to be identical with the Guasili of the De Soto chroniclers 

 minus a locative ending, we may infer that this town was occupied 

 by Cherokee Indians, but "Xuala," entered just before, is Siouan, 

 and Canasauga just beyond is probably Creek, so it would seem that 

 the Cherokee invasion had but just begun (U. S. De Soto Exped. 

 Comm., 1939, p. 60) . Traditional and historical evidence regarding the 

 origin of the Cherokee is here supported by circumstantial evidence, 

 since north was the direction in which the other Iroquoian tribes lay. 

 We must suppose that the Tuscarora, Meherrin, and Nottoway all 

 came from the same direction, but their affinities are more nearly with 

 the Iroquois proper than the Cherokee and we may assume that they 

 had separated from the Susquehanna Indians. 



Algonquian origin stories are reinforced similarly, for the Shawnee 

 language is nearest Kickapoo, Fox, and Sauk, while Gerard and 

 Michelson both find Cree resemblances in the Powhatan dialect. 

 (Gerard, 1904; Michelson, personal information.) 



A more easterly and northerly habitat for the Caddo is indicated in 

 some measure by the distribution of Caddo pottery, by the resem- 

 blances between certain Caddo and Muskogee names and perhaps 

 by linguistic affinities with Iroquois, though the last-mentoned evi- 

 dence is tenuous (Swanton, 1931; see also writings of Sapir), 



