Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/78

 18 HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST : SSOURI and village, without any apparent diininntion of the number. ' ' * It is evident that, in thus describing the situation and character of the Indian camp, the Spaniards were transferring to America, as they often did, the scenes and customs of Europe. The moat and canal to supply it were doubtless nothing more than natural channels, perhaps a bayou or former channel of the river. The Indians of America seem never to have constructed castles defended by moats, and while the situation of the Ca- paha village may have resembled the artificial moats with which the Spaniards were fa- miliar, they were not constructed by the hand of man. It would be interesting to know the exact site of this camp of Capaha Indians for these were among the most interesting of all the Indians encountered by De Soto and his party ; but it is not possible to determine from the description given what the site of the camp was. If we have been correct in our conjectures as to the general route fol- lowed thus far in the wanderings, then the camp thus reached must have been not far . from the neighborhood of Cape Girardeau. Of course many places in the foothills of the Ozarks might fit in a general way the de- scription here given, but two eircumstanees in addition to the course pursued in reaching this place lead us to believe that it was in the vicinity mentioned. One of these is a jour- ney, hereafter described, of a part of the ex- pedition to a stream, which from the pres- ence of salt we suspect to have been Saline creek in Ste. Genevieve county. The other is the fact that one of the varieties of fish de- scribed as having been present in the moat and canal was the spadefish or Platyrostra edentula, sometimes known as the shovel-bill cat. The latter fish is characteristic of the regions we have mentioned and its presence lends weight to the theory that the place of the Capahas was at least within the limits of Southeast IMissouri. This town of the Capahas contained, according to the account of the Spaniards, about five hundred houses, and was situated nearly three leagues from the IMississippi river. The chief of the Capahas had received no- tice through his scouts of the coming of the Casquins with their new allies, and on their near approach to the town, being unable, be- cause of the absence of his warriors, to de- fend it, he escaped in a canoe, making his way down the canal to the river and taking refuge on an island in the vicinity. All who could, followed him to this retreat, others fled into the woods, while many remained in the village and waited with alarm the ap- proach of the Casquins. The cacique of tlic Casquins, marching with his men in advance of the expedition, entered the Capaha villauo and proceeded to take vengeance for former defeats. All the men who were found were immediately killed and scalped, the women and children were taken as prisoners, among them Ijeing two wives of the cacique who had failed to flee with him, owing to the confu- sion and alarm into which the village was thrown by the approach of their enemies. These women are described by the Spaniards as being young and beautiful — a description which we may be pardoned for doubting, for it was their invariable custom to find beau- tiful women among the Indians, just as they found among them almost all the manners and customs with which they were acquainted at home. The houses of the Capahas were plundered, and even the dead were not safe from insult and disturbance. Within the public square there was situated a mausoleum
 * Irving, "Conquest of Florida," p. 117.