Page:Archæologia Americana—volume 2, 1836.djvu/141

 SECT. III.] SOUTHERN INDIANS EAST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. 105 Choctaw or Chickasa country. We find the names of Tascaluca or Tuscalusa, "Black Warrior," a pure Choctaw name derived from Tushka, " warrior," and Lusa," black," and which is that of the eastern branch of the Tombigbee ; that of the province of Pafalaya, the precise meaning of which I do not know, but which is clearly derived from the Choctaw word Falaya, "'long"; that of the town of Maville or Mauvila, identical with that of Mobile, and given by Du Pratz to the Mobilians, a Choctaw tribe; that of the chief Nicalusa, probably "Black bear," from Nit ah, bear, and Lusa, black ; and finally that of Chicasa itself, given to a village situated within the territory now occupied by the Chicasas.* We may thence fairly, and as I think conclusively, infer that the Cherokees, Chicasas, and Choctaws occupied then nearly the same territories as at the present time ; and that the Muskhogees were then, as now, seated on the Coosa, to the east of the Choctaws. But we have no proof of the extent of their progress toward the Atlantic. It is, indeed, probable that the seashores of Georgia, as well as of West Florida, were then occupied by different tribes now extinct. We know that the Indians of that peninsula were a distinct nation or nations from the Muskhogees; and that they were subsequently and marched thence westward to the Tuscaloosa or Black- warrior river, which he descended a short distance to Maville. It would appear from the Portuguese relation, that the Spaniards, in about four days' march from Tallisee, arrived at the town of Piache, called by Garcilaso, Tus- caluza, situated upon a great river, which from that account must have been distinct from the Coosa, and across which Soto carried his army. The division line between the Creeks and the Choctaws now is, and probably was at that time, a river or a ridge, and therefore a north and south and not an east and west line. I think also that De Soto must have necessarily crossed the Mississippi at the northern extremity of that immense swamp, which extends northwardly one hundred and fifty miles from the mouth of the Yazoo River, and covers almost the whole ground between that river and the Mississippi. It is impossible that he should have penetrated, or attempted to penetrate through the heart of that swamp, so as to cross the Mississippi near the mouth of the Arkansas. It is equally clear from the details given, that, just before crossing the great river, he was on the northern edge of the swamp. This determines the position of the place where he crossed, between the 35th degree of north latitude and the mouth of St. Francis River. But whether mistaken or not on those points, it does not affect in the least the proofs of the actual place of residence at that time of the several Indian Nations. VOL. II. 14
 * 1) I incline to the opinion, that De Soto left the Coosa river at Tallisee,