June 2, 1905.1 



SCIENCE. 



865 



White County, Georgia, where they arrive at 

 Guaxule. This route, if traveled by De Soto 

 as this theory supposes, was according to the 

 geologist of the U. S. Geological Survey, who 

 has been at work in that section, most likely, 

 as follows: Using modern names to designate 

 the points ; from Anderson, South Carolina, to 

 Greenville, same state, 26 miles ; thence across 

 Blue Ridge to Hendersonville, North Caro- 

 lina, 35 miles; thence down French Broad 

 valley to Asheville, 22 miles; thence through 

 Hominy Gap and up Richland Creek to 

 Waynesville, 30 miles; thence through Balsam 

 Gap and down Scott's Creek to Webster, 24 

 miles; thence across Tuckasugee River and 

 Cowee Mountains to Franklin, 17 miles; 

 thence across Nantahala River and down 

 Shooting Creek to Hiwassee, 32 miles; thence 

 up Hiwassee River and down the Chatta- 

 hoochee to Nacoochee, White County, Georgia, 

 25 miles, part of this line being along an old 

 Indian trail. As the distance from Silver 

 Bluff to Anderson is about one hundred miles, 

 two or three more or less, this makes the entire 

 distance along this supposed route from Co- 

 fitachiqui to Guaxule three hundred and eleven 

 miles, and from Cofitachiqui to Xuala, one 

 hundred and sixty-one miles, and from Xuala 

 to Guaxule one hundred and fifty miles. 



Though the route actually traveled accord- 

 ing to this theory may not have been precisely 

 that laid down, it must have been near to and 

 parallel with it, and the distance and character 

 of the country were substantially the same. 



Our reasons for rejecting this theory are as 

 follows : First, the distance, at least between 

 some of the points, is too great to have been 

 traveled by the army with its incumbrances, 

 among which was a drove of hogs, in the 

 time specified. These hogs may by constantly 

 moving have become good travelers, and may 

 have accomplished the trip from Cofitachiqui 

 to Xuala, a distance of about one hundred and 

 sixty miles, in twelve days — the longest time 

 given by any of the chroniclers. But when 

 the distance from Xuala to Guaxule, which 

 on this route was at least one hundred and 

 fifty miles, has to be traveled in five days, the 

 time given by all the chronicles — a rate of 

 thirty miles per day— the requirement becomes 



an utter impossibility for an army thus ham- 

 pered, and scarcely possible for an army free 

 from these incumbrances, especially through 

 a rough and densely wooded country where 

 there were no other roads than narrow path- 

 ways. 



This route places Xuala on the west or 

 north of the Blue Ridge which has to be 

 crossed in going from Greenville to Hender- 

 sonville. 



Another insuperable objection to this route 

 is that it requires us to assume that the ter- 

 ritory of the cacica extended into western 

 North Carolina, or included a detached sec- 

 tion therein with the Sara or Cheraw, a Siouan 

 tribe, as subjects, hedged in between the 

 Cherokees and the Catawbas. This would be 

 extraordinary. 



This assumption is absolutely necessary, if 

 we follow the theory in question, as it is clear, 

 from all the chronicles, that Xuala was under 

 the cacica's control. It is even stated by one 

 chronicler that after she made her escape, 

 which occurred between Xuala and Guaxule, 

 it was ascertained that she was at the former 

 village where she and the negro Robles, who 

 escaped at the same time, were living as hus- 

 band and wife. The assumption of this route 

 requires not only the supposition that the 

 Cheraws were her subjects and their country 

 in her kingdom, but also when she escaped 

 she went back northward into western North 

 Carolina instead of continuing southward to 

 her own proper capital. It also necessitates 

 the supposition that her flight was mostly 

 through Cherokee country, where she would 

 more likely have been taken captive and pos- 

 sibly slain than kindly concealed and helped 

 on her way. 



Another reason for rejecting this theory is 

 that it places Guaxule in White County, 

 Georgia, where no mound of the character de- 

 scribed is known to exist or to have existed. 

 It is claimed by advocates of the theory that 

 there is a mound which will answer the de- 

 scription near Clarksville. This, however, is 

 a mistake. There is, it is true, a mound in 

 that locality, but it will by no means fill the 

 requirements. It is in the - upper part of 

 Nacoochee valley, near its western extremity. 



