Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws.: Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together With Observations on the Manners of the Indians.Bartram, William
History
Travels Through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, the Cherokee Country, the Extensive Territories of the Muscogulges, or Creek Confederacy, and the Country of the Chactaws.: Containing an Account of the Soil and Natural Productions of Those Regions, Together With Observations on the Manners of the Indians.
Bartram, William
Bartram, William, 1739-1823 -- Travel -- Southern States; Indians of North America -- Southern States; Natural history -- Southern States; Southern States -- Description and travel
racemiflora, Myrica cerifera, Andromeda ferruginea, Andr. nitida, and
the great evergreen Andromeda of Florida, called Pipe-stem Wood, to
which I gave the name of Andromeda formosissima, as it far exceeds in
beauty every one of this family.
The river St. Mary has its source from a vast lake, or marsh, called
Ouaquaphenogaw, which lies between Flint and Oakmulge rivers, and
occupies a space of near three hundred miles in circuit. This vast
accumulation of waters, in the wet season, appears as a lake, and
contains some large islands or knolls, of rich high land; one of which
the present generation of the Creeks represent to be a most blissful
spot of the earth: they say it is inhabited by a peculiar race of
Indians, whose women are incomparably beautiful; they also tell you
that this terrestrial paradise has been seen by some of their
enterprising hunters, when in pursuit of game, who being lost in
inextricable swamps and bogs, and on the point of perishing, were
unexpectedly relieved by a company of beautiful women, whom they call
daughters of the sun, who kindly gave them such provisions as they had
with them, which were chiefly fruit, oranges, dates, &c. and some corn
cakes, and then enjoined them to fly for safety to their own country;
for that their husbands were fierce men, and cruel to strangers: they
further say, that these hunters had a view of their settlements,
situated on the elevated banks of an island, or promontory, in a
beautiful lake; but that in their endeavours to approach it, they were
involved in perpetual labyrinths, and, like enchanted land, still as
they imagined they had just gained it, it seemed to fly before them,
alternately appearing and disappearing. They resolved, at length, to
leave the delusive pursuit, and to return; which, after a number of
inexpressible difficulties, they effected. When they reported their
adventures to their countrymen, their young warriors were enflamed with
an irresistible desire to invade, and make a conquest of, so charming a
country; but all their attempts have hitherto proved abortive, never
having been able again to find that enchanting spot, nor even any road
or pathway to it; yet they say that they frequently meet with certain
signs of its being inhabited, as the building of canoes, footsteps of
men, &c. They tell another story concerning the inhabitants of this
sequestered country, which seems probable enough, which is, that they
are the posterity of a fugitive remnant of the ancient Yamases, who
escaped massacre after a bloody and decisive conflict between them and
the Creek nation (who, it is certain, conquered, and nearly
exterminated, that once powerful people), and here found an asylum,
remote and secure from the fury of their proud conquerors. It is,
however, certain that there is a vast lake, or drowned swamp, well
known, and often visited both by white and Indian hunters, and on its
environs the most valuable hunting grounds in Florida, well worth
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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