44 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



cross in his village also. The river turning eastward was evidently 

 the Ocmulgee and the location of the Altamaha Indians was in 

 Telfair County. The place where our explorers came upon this 

 river was evidently not much if any above Abbeville, where the 

 eastward trend of the river becomes first noticeable. Here they were 

 met by the chief of a town higher up the river called Ocute, identi- 

 fied with the main settlement of the Hitchiti, and they accompanied 

 him to his home, which was not far from the present Hawkinsville, 

 Ga. Erecting another cross at Ocute, they passed on to two neighbor 

 towns called Cofaqui and Patofa, 1 day's march beyond, and there- 

 fore probably near the present Westlake, or possibly as high up as 

 the Indian site at Bullard. 



At this point the army now turned directly east in search of the 

 province of which Pedro had been telling them, between which and 

 the settlements on the Ocmulgee lay a region at that time unin- 

 habited. Two days' travel brought them to a river divided into two 

 channels, which they forded with the greatest difficulty, several of 

 their hogs being drowned in the passage. The river was, of course, 

 the Oconee and the place where they crossed is identified by the 

 description as Carr Shoals, 6 miles above Dublm, Ga. In 2 days 

 more they reached the Ogeechee, but by that time they had wandered 

 from the trail and it is impossible to know where on that stream 

 they crossed, though it must have been not far from the present 

 Louisville. 



Another 2 days brought them to a third river, "a very large river 

 and hard to cross which was divided into two streams." Elvas says 

 that it was "of a more violent current [than the others] , and larger, 

 which was got over with more difficulty, the horses swimming for a 

 lance's length at the coming out, into a pine-grove." Garcilaso identi- 

 fies this river with the one on which Cofitachequi, the Yupaha capital, 

 was located ; that is, as we shall see, the Savannah. The other narra- 

 tives, however, show plainly that it was distinct, and there is no other 

 answering to the description within a day's journey of the Savannah 

 except Brier Creek. Ordinarily Brier Creek is a rather sluggish body 

 of water, but sometimes it rises and develops considerable current, and 

 we know that this was a wet spring because Ran j el says, speaking of 

 this period of their journey, that they were "drenched with continual 

 rain, the rivers always rising and narrowing the land." 



After an attempt to continue beyond this stream, De Soto deemed 

 it best to return to it at a place where were some Indian cabins. There 

 they camped while sending scouting parties in all directions in search 

 of settlements. At this time the utility of their herd of swine became 

 apparent because for many days they were reduced to an almost com- 

 plete dependence on their flesh. Finally, Anasco, who had been sent 



