The town had so entirely faded from the face of the earth that its location is not indicated on that admirable map of South Carolina and Georgia, published by William Faden at Charing Cross in 1780:—and the only mention made by White is as follows: “Abercorn, sixteen miles from Savannah, was a noted place in the early settlement of Georgia. No memorial of its former condition can now be seen.” Savannah, increasing her borders, practically claims as part of herself the Indian lands opposite the northern end of Hutchinson island. Of the Horse Quarter nothing remains. Joseph’s Town long ago lost its identity; and Abercorn, New Ebenezer, Purisburg, and Palachocolas, have, within the recollection of more than one generation, been known simply as boat-landings on the water-highway between Savannah and Augusta.[166] IV. SUNBURY. [Illustration: _GEORGIA. Parish of St. John._ _Plan of the Town of Sunbury containing 3430 feet in Length from North to South, & 2230 in Breadth on the South Side, & 1880 in Breadth on the North._ _J. Bien, Photo. Lith. N. Y._] On the 23rd of January, 1734, Mr. Oglethorpe, accompanied by Captain Ferguson and sixteen attendants,—including two Indians,—set out from Savannah in an open row-boat, followed by a yawl carrying provisions and ammunition, upon an exploratory expedition to the Southern frontiers of Georgia.[167] His course lay through the inner passages, and was pursued as far as St. Simons island. For the protection of the Colony it was then determined to form a military station and settlement near the mouth of the Alatamaha; and,—as an outpost and barrier against Spanish invasion,—to erect a strong fort on the high bluff on the western side of St. Simons island. These sites were shortly afterwards occupied and fortified, and were respectively named New Inverness and Frederica. It was during this reconnoissance that the eyes of the Founder of Georgia first rested upon that bold and beautiful bluff which, overlooking the placid waters of Midway river and the intervening low-lying salt marshes, descries in the distance the green woods of Bermuda island, the dim outline of the southern point of Ossabaw, and, across the sound, the white shores of St. Catherine. Although formal session had been made by the Lower Creeks of all lands along the sea-coast from the Savannah to the Alatamaha river, extending westward as high as the tide flowed, and including all islands except a few which the Indians specially reserved for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and bathing, no English settlements had, at that early day, been formed south of the Great Ogeechee river. Fort Argyle,—garrisoned by Captain McPherson and his troop of Rangers, and commanding the passes by which the Indians during the late wars were accustomed to invade Carolina,—was then the only military post of any consequence in the direction of the Spaniards. From this nameless bluff the Aborigines had not then removed, and their canoes might be seen