June 2, 1905.] 



SCIENCE. 



867 



cilasso in respect to Guaxule that appears to 

 fix this town, beyond any reasonable doubt, at 

 the mound group near Cartersville, Bartow 

 County, Georgia. The statement of this au- 

 thor is as follows : " La casa estava en un cerro 

 alto, como de otras seme j antes hemas dicho. 

 Tenio toda ella el derredor un paseadero que 

 podian pasearse por el seis hombres juntos." 

 " The house [of the chief] stood on a high hill 

 [mound] similar to others we have already 

 mentioned. It had round about it a roadway 

 on which six men might march abreast." 



The ' similar to others we have already men- 

 tioned ' is evidently intended to signify it 

 was artificial, and this is admitted by all who 

 allude to it. The statement that it was * high ' 

 signifies more, in the eyes of the Spaniards, 

 than an ordinary elevation. The large mound 

 of the Etowah group near Cartersville, Bar- 

 tow County, Georgia, is 66 feet high with base 

 diameters of 380 and 330 feet, and top diam- 

 eters about 160 and 180 feet. Running up 

 the south side is a broad roadway varying in 

 width from 37 to 56 feet. In bulk it is next 

 in size to the great Cahokia mound near St. 

 Louis. Here then we have a mound which 

 will completely satisfy the description, and the 

 only one in all that section of the south — as 

 is now positively known — which will do so. 

 Moreover, it is sufiiciently near Canasauga 

 River to agree with the narrative. There is 

 no reason, therefore, except to maintain a 

 theory, why this should not be accepted as the 

 site of Guaxule. Assuming this as one fixed 

 point, the possibilities of the position of Xuala 

 become much more limited than without this 

 determination. 



As the suggestion above mentioned, that the 

 Chalaque villages were near the Keowee River, 

 may be accepted as probably correct, it is ap- 

 parent from the limited time of the march 

 from Xuala to Guaxule — five days — that we 

 must place the former town somewhere in 

 northeastern Georgia, probably in White or 

 Hall County or in that section. A statement 

 by Biedma appears to have a decided bearing 

 on this question ; it is as follows : 



Again we took the direction of the north, and 

 for eight days we traveled through a poor country, 

 scarce of food, until arriving at one called Xuala, 



where we still found some Indian houses, though 

 a sparse population, for the country was broken. 

 Among these ridges we discovered the source of 

 the great river by which way we started, and which 

 we believed to be the Espiritu Santo. We went on 

 to a town called Guasuli, where the inhabitants 

 gave us a number of dogs, and some maize, of 

 which they had but little ; whence we traveled four 

 days and we arrived at a pueblo which was called 

 Chiha, which possessed more food; this is situated 

 on an island of this river of the Espiritu Santo, 

 which from its source has large ones (islands). 



That they struck the headwaters of Coosa 

 River, which they thought was the Espiritu 

 Santo (Mississippi), and that they followed 

 it down to Chiaha seems evident, for the de- 

 scription of this river by Biedma in the fore- 

 going citations fits no other river in this re- 

 gion than the Coosa. 



This supposition is apparently confirmed by 

 the earliest known map of De Soto's route, 

 made before Tristan de Luna started on his 

 expedition, given by Harrisse in his ' Dis- 

 covery of North America.' In this a river is 

 laid down about the same locality as the Coosa 

 (and Etowah) running westward marked 

 with islands and towns. It is continued west- 

 ward, however, to the Mississippi and was evi- 

 dently drawn to correspond with Biedma's 

 statement, regardless of the fact that De Soto 

 and his followers must have learned at length 

 that it did not extend to the Mississippi. This 

 fact, however, was overlooked by the map- 

 maker. Cyrus Thomas, 



J. N. B. Hewitt. 



BOTANICAL NOTES. 



THE STUDY OF PLANT MORPHOLOGY. 



Nearly twenty years ago Professors Arthur, 

 Barnes and Coulter published a useful book 

 on the morphology of plants under the title 

 of ' Handbook of Plant Dissection.' It in- 

 cluded suggestions for studies of a dozen rep- 

 resentative plants selected from all parts of 

 the vegetable kingdom. These authors find- 

 ing themselves unable to undertake the re- 

 writing of the book for a new edition dele- 

 gated the task to a younger man, Professor 

 O. W. Caldwell, who brings it out under the 

 new title ' Handbook of Plant Morphology ' 



