OCR Text |
Show 254 TIIE LfLY .AND TIIE TOTEM. arbour made of purpose, as fairc, I say, as any in all Christendom, although it be altogether naturall." Leaving the island of Edclano, thus equally famous for its beauties of nature and name, our voyagers proceeded ''to Encgunpc, then t.o Chi\ily, from thence to Patica, and lastly they came unto Coya." This place seems to have been, n.t this period, one of the habitations of the powerful king Olata Utina. In tho name Ohta, we find an affix such as is common to the Seminoles and Creeks of tile present day. Jiolata, as we now write the word, is evidently the Olata of Laudonnierc. It was probably a title rather than n name.• Ol:tta Utina received his vii"itors with great fa\·or, as he had always done b::lfore; and si:o:: of them were persuaded to remain with him, in ord::r tho better to S!lO tho country, while their companions returned to Ln. Caroline. Some of these remained with the Indian monarch more than two months. One of them, named Groutald, a gcmtlom:m who had taken great pains in thi~ exploration, reported to Laudonniere that he had never seen a fairer country. "Among other things, he reported to me tbut he had scene n. pl:tce, named l lostaqua, and that the king tl10reof was so mighty, that he was able to bring three or four thousand savages into the field." Of this king \VO have beard before. It was the counsel of Monsieur Groutald to Laudonniere that he should unite in u league with this king, !lnd by this mean! reduce the whole country into subjection. "Besides, that this king knf'w the passages unto the mountainc of Apalatei, which the ]henchmen desired so greatly to attaine unto, and where the· enemy of J lostaqua made his nbode, which was ensie to be sub· ducd, if so be wee would enter into league together." Hostaqua • llolata .Mico (or Blue King), and IIolata Amathla, were distingui•hed leaden of the Seminolea in the late war in Florida. HISTORICAL SU)!liAR\'. 255 sent to Laudonniere " a plate of a minerall tl1at came out of this mounta i o~,-()ut of the foote whereof "-such was the glowing account gn·cn by the Indian monarch-" there runneth a streama of golde or copper." The process by wllich the red~men obtain the pure treasures of this golden stream was n.n exceedingly primitive one, and reminds us or the simple process of gatlJCriog golden sands in CalifornitL. " They dig up the sand with an hollo1v and dric cane of reed, until the cane be full; afterward they shake it, and find that there arc many small graincs of copper and silver among this sand; which giveth them to understand that some rich mine must needs be in the mountainc." Laudonnicre is greatly impressed by thi!i intelligence, "and because tlw mountaine was not past fi\'e or six days journey from our fort, lying towards the north-west, I determined, as soone as our supply should como out of France, to remove our habitation unto some river more towards the north, that I might be nearer thereunto." An incident, which occurred about this time, still further in~ reased the appetites of Laudonniere. He had suffered, and mdeed sent, certain favorite soldiers to go into several parts of the eountz·y, among the savage tribes with ,vhom he kept terms of amnesty and favor, in order that they should acquire as well a knowledge of the Jndian language as of the country. One of these was named Peter Gambier. Tllis man had rnmbled somewhat farther than his comrades. 1 Ie had shared in all the more adventurous expeditions of the Indians, nnd had succeeded in gathering a considerable quantity of gold and silver, all of which was understood to have been directly or indirectly from the l ndians, who dwelt nt the foot of the Apalachian Mountains. These were tribes of the Cherokee nation, with whom the l ndian |