The Discoveries of America to the Year 1525

by Arthur James Weise

A tracing of the coasts of the Continent and of the New Lands, 1521, in the third volume of Navarrete’s “Coleccion de los Viages.”

According to these memoranda and the statements of Herrera, the Spanish historian, Juan Ponce de Leon explored the eastern coast of Florida from La Cruz, south of the thirty-first parallel, to a point on the southwestern coast, perhaps as far as Appalachee Bay. Alonso Alvarez de Pineda’s explorations, it would seem, began at Appalachicola Bay and ended at the Panuco River.[337]

The more northerly part of the eastern coast of Florida and coast of the present state of Georgia were inspected by the officers and crews of two vessels, equipped in 1520 in the port of La Plata, San Domingo, by seven citizens of that island. The ships were fitted out to sail among the Bahama Islands to kidnap Indians to work in the mines and on the plantations. Among the projectors of the expedition was Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon.[338] When the kidnapers arrived among the Bahama Islands they found them depopulated. “They determined,” it is said, “to go farther toward the north to search for a new country rather than return without any slaves. They reached a country called Chicora and Gualdape, in thirty-two degrees of north latitude”; where there was a cape, afterward called Cabo de Santa Elena (Cape of Saint Helen), and the Rio Jordan (River Jordan).[339]

“When our men steered toward the shore,” Peter Martyr relates, “the inhabitants, astonished at the sight of the ships, imagined that some monster was approaching. In order to satisfy their curiosity they flocked in great numbers to the shore. When our people were about to land with their boats the Indians ran rapidly away. As they fled our men pursued. Some of the youngest and the fastest runners overtook two of the natives, a man and a woman. They brought these to the ships, dressed them, and gave them their liberty. Impressed by this evidence of good-will the Indians returned in crowds to the beach. The king of the country, learning how our men had dealt with the man and the woman, and seeing the new and costly garments upon them (for the Indians only clothe themselves with the skins of lions or of other animals), sent fifty of his people to ours bearing the productions of the country. When visited by our people he was friendly and hospitable. When they expressed a desire to see the surrounding country he gave them guides and guards. Wherever they went the inhabitants came reverently to them with presents as unto gods to be adored, especially when they saw them having beards, and clothed with linen and silken garments. But what! The Spaniards violated the laws of hospitality. For by craft and various cunning devices, after they had seen all that they wished, they so managed that on an appointed day the Indians visited the ships to inspect them. When the vessels were crowded with these innocent people, the anchors were weighed and the sails hoisted, and the Indians were carried away mourning into servitude. Instead of friends, they made the people of those regions enemies, and having found them contented they left them miserable, having taken children from parents, and husbands from wives. Of the two ships one only returned, the other was never seen again. It was conjectured that all on board were drowned, the guilty and the guiltless, for it was an old ship....

“While they were there they explored the two principal regions, Chicora and Duharhe.... They say that the people of Chicora are half black or tawny as our farmers are, burned and tanned by the sun. The men allow their hair to grow long, which often extends down to their girdles. The hair of the women is much longer. Both sexes bind up their hair. The men have no beards. Whether or not they are so naturally or so by art is unknown; however, they take great pride in having smooth faces.... Leaving Chicora they went to the other side of the bay, and took possession of the region called Duharhe.”

Peter Martyr further observes that Ayllon had been a persistent solicitor at the court of Spain, and that he wanted to obtain letters-patent to go again to these countries “to plant a colony there.[340] ... He brought one of the natives of Chicora with him.... While he remained [in Spain] prosecuting his business, I sometimes had Ayllon, the master, and the Chicoran, his servant, as my guests. The Chicoran is not a dull person nor superficially intelligent. He has learned the Spanish language passably well. The things which Ayllon showed me, written by his men and reported by the Chicoran, that are strange and remarkable, I will relate.... Ayllon says the natives there [in Duharhe] are white, which also Franciscus, the tawny Chicoran, asserts, and that they have long yellow hair hanging down to their ankles.

“These people have a king of giant-like proportions, called Datha, and they say that the queen, his wife, is not much smaller.... This king being asked why he and his wife were so remarkably tall and the other people not, replied that their height was not hereditary, but that it had been caused by violent treatment. While they were infants in the charge of nurses their parents sent for those practicing the art, who anointed their limbs for a number of days with certain decoctions of herbs to soften their tender bones, which in time became as pliable as lukewarm wax. They then stretched their limbs, often leaving them almost dead. Thereupon the nurses, who had been fed with certain strength-producing meats, suckled them, the infants being covered with warm cloths. When they had again regained their vigor the practitioners again twisted and pulled their bones as they had previously done. This treatment was repeated from time to time until their limbs were lengthened so much that when they reached maturity they had the desired tallness....

“There is another region near Duharhe called Xapida. In it they say pearls and a precious stone resembling a pearl are to be found, which the natives highly prize. In all the country explored by them there were herds of deer kept like cattle with us. The deer fawn at home, and there they also rear their young. These deer, when free, wander and pasture in the woods during the day and at night return to their young. They are confined in pens and allow themselves to be milked.... The people fatten many kinds of fowl, as chickens, ducks, geese, and the like. Their bread is maize, the same as that of the people of the islands.... The grain of the maize is like our panic of Insubria, [in Italy,] but in size like pease. They sow another kind of corn called Xathi. They believe it is millet.... The natives have several varieties of potatoes, but they are small.... The Spaniards speak of many regions which they think are under the government of one and the same king,—Hitha, Xamunabe, Tihe.

“In this country they say there is a caste of priests differing from the people. These priests are held in great reverence by the inhabitants of the surrounding country. The natives of this region cut their hair, leaving only two curled locks hanging down in front of their ears, which locks they tie under their chins. The Spaniards explored many regions of this great country, which tracts they called Arambe, Guacaia, Quohathe, Tanzacca, Pahor. The inhabitants are all somewhat tawny and swart. None of them have any knowledge of letters, but they possess many traditions which they preserve and relate in rhymes and songs. They exercise themselves in dancing and skipping, and find much amusement in playing ball, for they are very nimble and skillful. The women sew and spin, and although for the most part they are dressed in the skins of wild animals, they have cotton and make thread from the fibres of certain tough plants, as our hemp or flax. There is another region called Inzignanin.”[341]

According to Gomara’s geographical description of the coast of North America, the explorations of the Spaniards who discovered Tierra de Ayllon (the Land of Ayllon) extended from the Cape of St. Helen, in 32°, northwardly forty leagues to the River Jordan. If Cape St. Helen were a point of land near the mouth of the Combahee River, the river Jordan was likely the Santee River, in South Carolina.[342]