Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/139

 SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 103 called Oscilla. But I have not been able to ascertain whether this is, either an Uchee or Muskhogee name, or whether it may not have been subsequently given to the river by the Spaniards in commemoration of De Soto's expedition. I have been equally unfortunate in my inquiries respecting the etymology of the name Apalachee ; whether it belongs to the language of any of the existing nations, or whether it has been perpetuated from De Soto's time. It is certain that the river Appalachicolais known to the Muskhogees by no other name than that of Chatta Hatchee, or Rock River. The only name mentioned in that vicinity, having any known affinity with an Indian language, is that of a village near the sea-port, which in the Spanish relation is called Aute. In the Muskhogee language autti or oty, means an island. De Soto's officers discovered in the course of the winter an- other and better port, sixty computed leagues west of Aute. This was called Ochuse, and must have been either Pensacola, or the entrance of the Mobile. Instead, however, of proceeding in that direction, De Soto, on the information of an Indian boy, determined to march northwardly in search of a gold region. He left Anhayca in March, 1540, and, in about forty days of actual march, reached a district called Cofachiqui or Cutifachi- qui. Twelve days' march more in the same direction brought him to Xuala in the mountains ; and this was the termination of his travels northwardly. The distance from the vicinity of St. Mark's to the sources of the French BFoad or of the Hiwassee, both tributary streams of the Tennessee, is about three hundred and fifty miles in a direct line. This determines the position of Cofachiqui, which was certainly on a river emptying into the Atlantic, not far south of the 34th degree of north latitude, on the Oconee, or on the Savannah River. The statement, therefore, that, according to Indian information, it was but two days' journey to the sea, is erroneous. Between Anhayca and Cofachiqui, we find the two names of Achese, on a river which the Spaniards ascended some days, and of Ocute, a fruitful country. Ochis is the Muskhogee name of the Okmulgee river.* Ofteta in the same language means woman; and Cohwita in Uchee means man, and is the well- known name of a Creek town. These detached names afford but a slight indication of that part of the country having been
 * Ochis hatchee, Hickory-leaf river. Rev. L. Compere's information.