[147] That is, until the summer of 1535.
[148] See ch. 27: "By the coast live those called Quitoks, and in front inward on the main are the Chavavares, to whom adjoin the Maliacones, the Cultalchulches and others called Susolas and the Comos." This would seem to indicate that he was journeying in a generally northward or north-westward direction.
[149] The name suggests the Bidai, a Caddoan tribe that lived at a later period west of the Trinity, about latitude 31°, but this locality does not agree with the narrative.
[150] Elsewhere called Doguenes.
[151] Guevenes in the edition of 1542.
[152] Cabeza de Vaca is now evidently recalling the experience of Narvaez's men in Florida.
[153] In the 1542 edition these tribal names are similarly spelled except in the case of Capoques, Charruco, Deguenes, Yeguaces, Decubadaos (for Acubadaos), Quitoles (for Quitoks), Chauauares, and Camolas. None of these Indians have thus far been conclusively identified with later historical tribes, with the possible exception of the Atayos and the Quevenes. See p. 76, note 2, and p. 59, note 1.
[154] In the 1542 edition, as given by Mrs. Bandelier, "Among them is a language wherein they call men mira aca, arraca, and dogs xo." Compare háka, "sit down," in Karankawa (Gatschet, Karankawa Indians, Cambridge, Mass., 1891, p. 80). In the above it would appear as if the Spanish mira had been regarded as a part of the Indian exclamation.
[155] The tree from which the so-called "black drink" is made is Ilex cassine, and the custom of preparing and partaking of the liquid (known also as Carolina tea) was general among the tribes of the South, including the Gulf coast. The drink was known among the Catawbas as yaupon, among the Creeks as ássi-lupútski, the latter signifying "small leaves," commonly abbreviated ássi, whence the name of the celebrated Seminole chief Osceola, i.e., "Black-drink Hallooer," or "Black-drink Singer." The partaking of the black drink was an important part of the puskita, or busk, ceremony among the Creeks.
[156] The Arbadaos or Acubadaos. See chs. 22, 23.