102 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 187 



St. Augustine readied the town of Calos, where more than 60 canoes 

 came to meet it. In 1680 a reconnaissance of the Calusa country was 

 undertaken preparatory to resumption of missionary work, but the 

 emissary was turned back before he reached the town of the Calos 

 chief and nothing seems to have resulted. About this time some of 

 the Indians fleeing from Guale settled in Calusa territory. Another 

 missionary effort, made in 1697, had the same fate as the others, and 

 although in 1726 there was a mission near St. Augustine from the 

 "Rinconada de Carlos of the Praya nation," no permanent effect 

 seems to have been produced by it. Romans states that the last of the 

 Calusa left the peninsula in 1763, but his remark perhaps applies 

 rather to the Indians of the east coast. At any rate, bands of Calusa 

 continued on the west coast until the very end of the Seminole War, 

 and in 1839 one of them attacked the camp of Colonel Harney and 

 killed 18 out of 30 men under him. On July 23, however, Harney 

 attacked them in turn, killed the leader of this band, Chekika, and 

 hanged 6 of his followers. On May 7, 1840, the same body of Indians 

 is credited with having killed Doctor Perrine, a botanist living on 

 Indian Key. By some early writers, these Calusa seem to have been 

 called "Choctaw," and in 1847 we hear of a band of "Choctaw" con- 

 taining 4 warriors. During a recent trip to the Florida Seminole, 

 Miss Frances Densmore obtained a number of songs from individuals 

 who claimed descent from this tribe. The last of them must have 

 united with the Seminole or removed to Cuba. 



Calusa population, — ^The tribe must have been populous at one 

 time, since we have names of 56 towns preserved and a document of 

 1612 states that the chief of Calos had 70 towns under him not count- 

 ing those which paid him tribute out of fear. Another informant 

 gives them "more than 600" towns, but only the inclusion of very 

 small fishing camps could justify that figure. The expedition sent 

 into the Calusa country in 1680 passed through 5 villages with a 

 total population of 960. In the band that attacked Harney there 

 are said to have been 250 Indians, but this is a rough estimate 

 and the band may have included Indians other than Calusa. 



CAPARAZ 



Indians of this tribe, numbering about 100 persons, were connected 

 with a doctrina named San Luis established in 1674 on the seacoast 

 of Florida near the Apalachee country. They may have been iden- 

 tical with the Capachequi of the De Soto narratives. 



