Notes on the Floridian Peninsula; its Literary History, Indian Tribes and Antiquities

When the massacre of the 19th September, 1565, became known in Europe, “the French were wondrously exasperated at such cowardly treachery, such detestable cruelty.”[39 - “Les François furent merveilleusement oultrez d’une silasche trahison, et d’une si detestable cruaulté. La Reprinse de la Floride; Ternaux-Compans” Recueil, p. 306.] Still more bitterly were they aroused when they learned the inexcusable butchery of Ribaut and his men. These had been wrecked on the Floridian shore, and with difficulty escaped the waves only to fall into the hands of more fell destroyers on land. When this was heard at their homes, their “widows, little orphan children, and their friends, relatives and connections,” drew up and presented to Charles IXL., a petition,[40 - Une Requête au Roi, faite en forme de Complainte par les Femmes Veufues, petits Enfans Orphelins, et autres leurs Amies, Parents et Alliez, de ceux qui out été cruellement envahis par les Espagnoles en la France Antharctiques dite la Floride, Mai 22, 1566: it is printed “in one of the editions of Challeux Discours, and also at the end of Chauveton’s French translation of Benzoni, Geneva, 1579. There are two Latin translations, one by Chauveton appended to his Brevis Historia, and also to the sixth part of De Bry; the other by an unknown hand contained in the second part. These are free translations, but they accord in the essential points.” Jared Sparks, Appendix to Life of Ribaut, American Biography, vol. VII., pp. 153-4.] generally known as the EpistolaSupplicatoria, setting forth the facts of the case and demanding redress.

Though the weak and foolish monarch paid no marked attention to this, a man arose who must ever be classed among the heroes of history. This was Dominique de Gourgues, a high born Bourdelois, who, inspired with an unconquerable desire to wreak vengeance on the perpetrators of the bloody deed, sold his possessions, and by this and other means raised money sufficient to equip an expedition. His entire success is well known. Of its incidents, two, histories are extant, both by unknown hands, and both apparently written some time afterwards. It is even doubtful whether either writer was an eyewitness. Both, however, agree in all main facts.

The one first written and most complete lay a long time neglected in the Bibliotheque du Roi.[41 - La Reprinse de la Floride par le capitaine Gourgues; Revue Retrospective, seconde série, Tome II.; Ternaux-Compans’ Recueil. The latter was not aware of the prior publication in the Revue.] Within the present century it has been twice published from the original manuscript. It commences with the discovery of America by Columbus; is well composed by an appreciative hand, and has a pleasant vein of philosophical comment running throughout. The details of the voyage are given in a careful and very satisfactory manner.

The other is found in Basanier, under the title “Le Quatrièsme Voyage des François en la Floride, sous le capitaine Gourgues, en l’an 1567;” and, except the Introduction, is the only portion of his volume not written by Laudonniére. By some it is considered merely an epitome of the former, but after a careful comparison I am more inclined to believe it writen by Basanier himself, from the floating accounts of his day or from some unknown relator. This seems also the opinion of his late editor.

The manuscript mentioned by Charlevoix as existing in his day in the family of De Gourgues, was either a copy of one of these or else a third of which we have no further knowledge.

Other works may moulder in Spanish libraries on this part of our narrative. We know that Barcia had access to certain letters and papers (Cartas y Papeles) of Aviles himself, which have never been published, and possessed the original manuscripts of the learned historiographer Pedro Hernandez del Pulgar, among which was a Historia de la Florida, containing an account of the French colonies written for Charles II. But it is not probable that these would add any notable increment to our knowledge.

The Latin tract of Levinus Apollonius,[42 - De Navigatione Gallorum in Terram Floridam, deque clade an. 1565 ab Hispanis acceptâ. Antwerpiæ, 1568, 8vo. Barcia erroneously adds a second edition of 1583.] of extreme rarity, a copy of which I have never seen, is probably merely a translation of Challeux or Ribaut, as no other original account except the short letter sent to Rouen had been printed up to the date of its publication. This Apollonius, whose real name does not appear, was a German, born near Bruges, and died at the Canary Islands on his way to America. He is better known as the author of De Peruviæ Inventione, Libri V., Antwerpiæ, 1567,[43 - Rich (Bibliotheca Americana) incorrectly states 1565.] a scarce work, not without merit. On the fly-leaf of the copy in the Yale College library is the following curious note:

“Struvius in Bibl. Antiq. hunc librum laudibus affert; et inter raros adnumerant David Clement, Bibl. Curieuse, Tom. I.; pag; 403, Jo. Vogt, Catal; libror; rarior; pag; 40, Freytag in Analec; Literar; pag; 31.”

Some hints of the life of Levinus may be found in his Epistola Nuncupatoria to this work, and there is a scanty article on him in the Biographie Universelle.

A work of somewhat similar title[44 - De Gallorum Expeditione in Floridam et clade ab-Hispanis non minus iniusté quam immaniter ipsis illata, Anno MDLXV. Brevis Historia; Calveton, Novæ Novi Orbis Historiæ, Genevæ, 1578; De Bry, Peregrinationes, Pars VI.; French trans. in Chauveton’s French trans. of Benzoni, 1579. For the notice of this work I am principally indebted to Sparks.] was published in 1578 by Vignon at Geneva appended to Urbain Chauveton’s (Urbanus Calveton’s) Latin translation of Benzoni. It is hardly anything more than a translation of Challeux, whom indeed Chauveton professes to follow, with some details borrowed from André Thevet which the latter must have taken from the MSS. of Laudonniére. The first chapter and two paragraphs at the end are his own. In the former he says “he had been chiefly induced to add this short history to Benzoni’s work, in consequence of the Spaniards at the time perpetrating more atrocious acts of cruelty in the Netherlands than they had ever committed upon the savages.”

Items of interest are also found in the general histories of De Thou, (Thuanus,) a cotemporary, of L’Escarbot, of Charlevoix, and other writers.

In our own days, what the elegant pen of Theodore Irving has accomplished for the expedition of De Soto, has been done for the early settlements on the St. Johns by the talented author of the Life of Ribault.[45 - Life of John Ribault, comprising an account of the first Attempts of the French to found a Colony in North America, Boston, 1845; in Vol. VII. of Sparks’ American Biography.] He has no need of praise, whose unremitting industry and tireless endeavors to preserve the memory of their forefathers are so well known and justly esteemed by his countrymen as Jared Sparks. With what thoroughness and nice discrimination he prosecutes his researches can only be fully appreciated by him who has occasion to traverse the same ground. His work is one of those finished monographs that leave nothing to be desired either as respects style or facts in the field to which it is devoted—a field “the most remarkable in the early history of that part of America, now included in the United States and Canada, as well in regard to its objects as its incidents.” Appended to the volume is an “Account of the Books relating to the Attempts of the French to found a Colony in Florida.” The reader will have seen that this has been of service to me in preparing the analogous portion of this essay; and I have had the less hesitation in citing Mr. Sparks’ opinions, from a feeling of entire confidence in his judgment.

Before closing these two periods of bibliographical history, the labors of the collectors Basanier and Ternaux Compans, to whom we owe so much, should not pass unnoticed. The former is the editor of the letters of Laudonniére, three in number, describing the voyage of Ribaut, the building of Fort Caroline, and its destruction by the Spaniards, to which he adds an introduction on the manners and customs of the Indians, also by Laudonniére, and an account of the voyage of De Gourgues.[46 - L’Histoire Notable de la Floride située es Indes Occidentales; Contenant les troys Voyages faits en icelle par certains Capitaines et Pilotes François, descrits par le Capitaine Laudonniére, qui y a commandé l’espace d’un an troys moys; à laquelle a esté adjousté un quatriesme voyage par le Capitaine Gourgues. Mise en lumière par M. Basanier, Gentil-homme François Mathematicien. Paris, 1586, 8vo., 124 pp; reprinted Paris, 1853, with an Avertissement. Eng. trans. London, 4to, 1586, by R. H. (Richard Hackluyt,) who included it in his folio of 1600, reprinted in 1812.] In this he was assisted by Hackluyt, who speaks of him as “my learned friend M. Martine Basanier of Paris,” and who translated and published his collection the year after its first appearance. Little is known of Basanier personally; mention is made by M. de Fétis in his Biographie des Musiciens of a certain Martin Basanier who lived about this time, and is probably identical. In the same year with his collection on Florida he published a translation of Antonio de Espejo’s History of the Discovery of New Mexico. The dedication of the “Histoire Notable” is to the “Illustrious and Virtuous Sir Walter Raleigh.” According to the custom of those days, it is introduced by Latin and French verses from the pens of J. Auratus (Jacques Doré?), Hackluyt, and Basanier himself. As a curious specimen of its kind I subjoin the anagram of the latter on Walter Raleigh:

“Walter Ralegh

La vertu l’ha à gré

En Walter cognoissant la vertu s’estre enclose,
J’ay combiné Ralegh, pour y voir quelle chose
Pourroit à si beau nom convenir à mon gré;
J’ay trouvé que c’estoit; la vertu l’ha à gré.”

The first edition is rare, and American historians are under great obligations to the Parisian publishers for producing a second, and for preserving the original text with such care.

The labors of Ternaux Compans throughout the entire domain of early American history, his assiduity in collecting and translating manuscripts, and in republishing rare tracts, are too well known and generally appreciated to need special comment. Among his volumes there is one devoted to Florida, containing eleven scarce or inedited articles, all of which are of essential importance to the historian.[47 - Voyages, Relations, et Memoires Originaux pour servir à l’Histoire de l’Amerique; seconde série; Recueil des Pieces sur la Floride, Paris, 1841.] These have been separately considered previously, in connection with the points of history they illustrate.

§ 3.—The First Spanish Supremacy. 1567-1763

After the final expulsion of the French, Spain held the ascendancy for nearly two hundred years. Her settlements extended to the south and west, the natives were generally tractable, and at one period the colony flourished; yet there is no more obscure portion of the history of the region now included in the United States. Except the Chronological Essay of Barcia, which extends over only a fraction of this period, the accounts are few in number, meagre in information, and in the majority of instances, quite inaccessible in this country.

The verbal depositions of Pedro Morales and Nicolas Bourguignon,[48 - The Relation of Pedro Morales, a Spanyard which Sir Francis Drake brought from St. Augustines in Florida, where he remayned sixe yeeres, touching the state of those partes, taken from his mouth by Richard Hackluyt, 1586.The relation of Nicholas Bourgoignon, aliâs Holy, whom Sir Francis Drake brought from St. Augustine, also in Florida, where he had remayned sixe yeeres, in mine and Master Heriot’s hearing. Voyages, Vol. III., pp. 432-33.] captives brought by Sir Francis Drake to London, from his attack on St. Augustine, (1586,) are among the earliest notices we possess. They were written out by Richard Hackluyt, and inserted in his collection as an appendix to Drake’s Voyage. Both are very brief, neither filling one of his folio pages; they speak of the Indian tribes in the vicinity, but in a confused and hardly intelligible manner. Nicolas Bourguignon was a Frenchman by birth, and had been a prisoner among the Spaniards for several years. He is the “Phipher,” mentioned in Drake’s account, who escaped from his guards and crossed over to the English, playing the while on his fife the march of the Prince of Orange, to show his nationality.

Towards the close of the century, several works were published in Spain, of which we know little but their titles. Thus, mention is made of a geographical description of the country (Descripcion y Calidades de la Florida) by Barrientes, Professor of the Latin language at the University of Salamanca, about 1580. It is probably nothing more than an extract from the Cosmographia, attributed by some to this writer. Also, about the same time, Augustin de Padilla Davila, a Dominican, and Bishop of St. Domingo, published an ecclesiastical history of the See of Mexico and the progress of the faith in Florida.[49 - Varia Historia de la Nueva España y la Florida; Madrid, 1596; Valladolid, 1634.] Very little, however, had been achieved that early in the peninsular and consequently his work would in this respect interest us but little. The reports of the proceedings of the Council of the Indies, doubtless contain more or less information in regard to Florida; Barcia refers especially to those published in 1596.[50 - Cedulas y Provisiones Reales de las Indias; Varios Informes y Consultos de differentes Ministros sobre las Cosas de la Florida; 4to Madrid, 1596.]

Early in the next century there appeared an account of the Franciscan missionaries who had perished in their attempts to convert the savages of Florida.[51 - Relacion de los Martires que ha avido en la Florida; 4to, (Madrid?) 1604.] The author, Geronimo de Ore, a native of Peru, and who had previously filled the post of Professor of Sacred Theology in Cusco, was, at the time of writing, commissary of Florida, and subsequently held a position in the Chilian Church, (deinde commissarius Floridæ, demum imperialis civitatis Chilensis regni antistes.)[52 - Nicolas Antonio, Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, Tom. II., p. 43, and Compare “Garcilasso, Commentarios Reales, Parte II., lib. VII.”] He was a man of deep erudition, and wrote various other works “very learned and curious,” (mui doctos y curiosos.[53 - Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, p. 181.])

Pursuing a chronological order, this brings us to the peculiarly interesting and valuable literature of the Floridian aboriginal tongues. Here, as in other parts of America, we owe their preservation mainly to the labors of missionaries.

As early as 1568, Padre Antonio Sedeño, who had been deputed to the province of Guale, now Amelia Island, between the mouths of the rivers St. Johns and St. Marys, drew up a grammar and catechism of the indigenous language.[54 - “En breve tiempo hizó (Padre Antonio Sedeño) Arte para aprenderla, y Catecismo para enseñar la Doctrina Cristiana à los Indios.” Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, p. 138. His labors have escaped the notice of Ludewig in his Literature of American Aboriginal Languages. Though they are the first labors, before him the French on the St. Lawrence had obtained lists of words in the native tongue which still remain, and Laudonniére, on the first voyage of Ribaut, (1562,) says of the Indians near the Savannah river, “cognoissans l’affection que j’avois de sçavoir leur langage, ils m’ invitoient après à leur demander quelque chose. Tellement que mettant par escrit les termes et locutions indiennes, je pouvois entendre la plus grande part de leur discours.” Hist. Notable de la Floride, p. 29. Unfortunately, however, he did not think these worthy of publication.] It was probably a scion of the Muskohge family, but as no philologist ever examined Sedeño’s work—indeed, it is uncertain whether it was ever published—we are unprepared to speak decisively on this point.

The only works known to be in existence are those of Franceso de Pareja.[55 - Confessionario en Lengua Castellana y Timuquana. Impreso con licencia en Mexico, en la Emprenta de la viuda de Diego Lopez Daualos; Año de 1613, 12mo., 238 leaves. Nicolas Antonio says 1612, 8vo., but this is probably a mistake.Grammatica de la Lengua Timuquana, 8vo., Mexico, 1614; not mentioned by Ludewig.Catecismo y Examen para los que comulgan, 8vo., Mexico, 1614; reprinted “en la imprenta de Juan Ruyz,” 8vo., 1627.] He was a native of the village of Auñon,[56 - Ludewig says Toledo; Torquemada calls him “Natural de Castro-Urdiales,” but Nicolas Antonio says expressly, “Franciscus de Pareja, Auñonensis (Toletanæ dioecesis Auñon oppidum est).” Bibliotheca Hispana Nova, Tom. I., p. 456. Besides this writer, see for particulars of the life of Pareja, Torquemada, Monarquia Indiana, Lib. XIX., cap. xx, p. 350, and Barcia, Ensayo Cronologico, pp. 167, 195, 203.] embraced the Franciscan theology, and was one of the twelve priests dispatched to Florida by the Royal Council of the Indies in 1592. He arrived there two years afterwards, devoted himself to converting the natives for a series of years, and about 1610 removed to the city of Mexico. Here he remained till the close of his life, in 1638, (January 25, 0. S.,) occupied in writing, publishing, and revising a grammar of the Timuquana language, prevalent around and to the north of St. Augustine, and devotional books for the use of the missionaries. They are several in number, but all of the utmost scarcity. I cannot learn of a single copy in the libraries of the United States, and even in Europe; Adelung, with all his extensive resources for consulting philological works, was obliged to depend altogether on the extracts of Hervas, who, in turn, confesses that he never saw but one, and that a minor production of Pareja. This is the more to be regretted, as any one in the slightest degree acquainted with American philology must be aware of the absolute dearth of all linguistic knowledge concerning the tribes among whom he resided. His grammar, therefore, is second to none in importance, and no more deserving labor could be pointed out than that of rendering it available for the purposes of modern research by a new edition.

A Doctrina Cristiana and a treatise on the administration of the Sacraments are said to have been written in the Tinqua language of Florida by Fray Gregorio Morrilla, and published “the first at Madrid, 1631, and afterwards reprinted at Mexico, 1635, and the second at Mexico, 1635.”[57 - Ludewig, Literature of American Aboriginal Languages, p. 242.] What nation this was, or where they resided is uncertain.

The manuscript dictionary and catechism of the Englishman Andrew Vito, “en Lengua de Mariland en la Florida,” mentioned in Barcia’s edition of Pinelo, and included by Ludewig among the works on the Timuquana tongue, evidently belonged to a language far to the north of this, probably to one spoken by a branch of the Lenni Lennapes.

Throughout the seventeenth century notices of the colony are very rare. Travellers the most persistent never visited it. One only, Francesco (François) Coreal, a native of Carthagena in South America, who spent his life in wandering from place to place in the New World, seems to have recollected its existence. He was at St. Augustine in 1669, and devotes the second chapter of his travels to the province.[58 - Voiages aux Indes Occidentales; traduits de l’Espagnol; Amsterdam, 1722. Dutch trans. the same year. Another edition under the title, Recueil de Voyages dans l’Amerique Meridionale, Paris, 1738, which Brunet does not notice.] It derives its value more from the lack of other accounts than from its own intrinsic merit. His geographical notions are not very clear at best, and they are hopelessly confounded by the interpolations of his ignorant editor. The authenticity of his production has been questioned, and even his own existence disputed, but no reasonable doubts of either can be entertained after a careful examination of his work.

Various attempts were made by the Spanish to obtain a more certain knowledge of the shores and islands of the Gulf of Mexico during this period. A record of those that took place between 1685 and 1693[59 - Relacion de los Viages que los Españoles han hecho a las Costas del Seno Mexicano y la Florida desde el año de 1685 hasta el de 1693, con una nueva Descripcion de sus Costas.] is mentioned by Barcia, but whether it was ever published or not, does not appear.

About this time the Franciscan Juan Ferro Macuardo occupied the post of inspector (Visitador General) of the church in Florida under the direction of the bishop of Cuba. Apparently he found reason to be displeased with the conduct of certain of the clergy there, and with the general morality of the missions, and subsequently, in his memorial to the king,[60 - Memorial en Derecho al Rei sobre la Visita à la Florida y otras Cosas, folio, Madrid, 1690.] handled without gloves these graceless members of the fraternity, telling truths unpleasant to a high degree. In consequence of these obnoxious passages, its sale was prohibited by the church on the ground that such revelations could result in no advantage.[61 - “Solo sirven de dar Escandalo al Vulgar en los Excesos impatados à unos y otros Individuos,” Barcia, Ensayo Chronologico, p. 300.] Whether this command was carried out or not,—and it is said to have been evaded—the work is rare in the extreme, not being so much as mentioned by the most comprehensive bibliographers. Its value is doubtless considerable, as fixing the extent of the Spanish settlements, at this, about the most flourishing period of the colony. The Respuesta which it provoked from the pen of Francisco de Ayeta, is equally scarce.

The next book that comes under our notice we owe to the misfortune of a shipwreck. On the “twenty-third of the seventh month,” 1696, a bark, bound from Jamaica to the flourishing colony of Philadelphia, was wrecked on the Floridian coast, near Santa Lucea, about 27° 8´, north latitude. The crew were treated cruelly by the natives and only saved their lives by pretending to be Spaniards. After various delays and much suffering they prevailed on their captors to conduct them to St. Augustine. Here Laureano de Torres, the governor, received them with much kindness, relieved their necessities, and furnished them with means to return home. Among the passengers was a certain Jonathan Dickinson a Quaker resident in Pennsylvania. On his arrival home, he published a narrative of his adventures,[62 - God’s Protecting Providence Man’s Surest Help and Defence, In the times of the greatest difficulty and most Imminent danger, Evidenced in the Remarkable Deliverance of divers Persons from the devouring Waves of the Sea, amongst which they suffered Shipwrack, And also from the more cruelly devouring jawes of the inhumane Cannibals of Florida. Faithfully related by one of the Persons concerned therein. Philadelphia, 1699, 1701, and a fourth edition, 1751. London, 1700. German trans. Erstaunliche Geschichte des Schiffbruches den einige Personen im Meerbusen von Florida erlitten, Frankfort, 1784, and perhaps another edition at Leipzic.] that attracted sufficient attention to be reprinted in the mother country and translated into German. It is in the form of a diary, introduced by a preface of ten pages filled with moral reflections on the beneficence of God and His ready help in time of peril. The style is cramped and uncouth, but the many facts it contains regarding the customs of the natives and the condition of the settlement give it value in the eyes of the historian and antiquarian. Among bibliopolists the first edition is highly prized as one of the earliest books from the Philadelphia press. The printer, Reinier Jansen, was “an apprentice or young man” of William Bradford, who, in 1688, published a little sheet almanac, the first printed matter in the province.[63 - Thomas, History of Printing in America, vol. II. p. 25.] After his return the author resided in Philadelphia till his death, in 1722, holding at one time the office of Chief Justice of Pennsylvania. He must not be confounded with his better known cotemporary of the same name, staunch Presbyterian, and first president of the College of New Jersey, of much renown in the annals of his time for his fervent sermons and addresses.

The growing importance of the English colonies on the north, and the aggressive and irritable character of their settlers, gave rise at an early period of their existence to bitter feelings between them and their more southern neighbors, manifested by a series of attacks and reprisals on both sides, kept alive almost continually till the cession to England in 1763. So much did the Carolinians think themselves aggrieved, that as early as 1702, Colonel Moore, then governor of the province, made an impotent and ill-advised attempt to destroy St. Augustine; for which valorous undertaking his associates thought he deserved the fools-cap, rather than the laurel crown. An account of his Successes,[64 - The Successes of the English in America, by the March of Colonel Moore, Governor of South Carolina, and his taking the Spanish Town of St. Augustine near the Gulph of Florida. And by our English Fleete sayling up the River Darian, and marching to the Gold Mines of Santa Cruz de Cana, near Santa Maria. London, 1702; reprinted in an account of the South Sea Trade, London, 1711. Bib. Primor. Amer.] or more properly Misfortunes, published in England the same year; is of great rarity and has never come under my notice. Of his subsequent expedition, undertaken in the winter of 1703-4, for the purpose of wiping away the stigma incurred by his dastardly retreat, so-called, from St. Augustine, we have a partial account in a letter from his own pen to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, his successor in the gubernatorial post. It was published the next May in the Boston News, and has been reprinted by Carroll in his Historical Collections. The precise military force in Florida at this time may be learned from the instructions given to Don Josef de Zuñiga, Governor-General in 1703, preserved by Barcia.

Some years afterwards Captain T. Nairns, an Englishman, accompanied a band of Yemassees on a slave hunting expedition to the peninsula. He kept a journal and took draughts on the road, both of which were in the possession of Herman Moll,[65 - See the note on his New Map of the North Parts of America, London, 1720, headed “Explanation of an Expedition in Florida Neck by Thirty Three Iamasee Indians, Accompany’d by Capt. T. Nairn.”] but they were probably never published, nor does this distinguished geographer mention them in any of his writings on his favorite science.

Governor Oglethorpe renewed these hostile demonstrations with vigor. His policy, exciting as it did much odium from one party and some discussion in the mother country, gave occasion to the publication of several pamphlets. Those that more particularly refer to his expedition against the Spanish, are three in number,[66 - A voyage to Georgia, begun in the year 1735, by Francis Moore; London, 1741; reprinted in the Collection of the Georgia Historical Society, Vol. I.An Impartial Account of the Expedition against St. Augustine under the command of General Oglethorpe; 8vo., London, 1742. (Rich.)Journal of an Expedition to the Gates of St. Augustine in Florida, conducted by General Oglethorpe. By G. L. Campbell; 8vo., London, 1744. (Watts.)] and, together with his own letters to his patrons, the Duke of Newcastle and Earl of Oxford,[67 - They are in the Rev. George White’s Historical Collections of Georgia, pp. 462, sqq., and in Harris’s Memorials of Oglethorpe.] and those of Captain McIntosh, leader of the Highlanders, and for some time a captive in Spain, which are still preserved in manuscript in the Library of the Georgia Historical Society,[68 - An extract may be found in Fairbank’s History and Antiquities of St. Augustine.] furnish abundant information on the English side of the question; while the correspondence of Manuel de Montiano, Captain-General of Florida, extending over the years 1737-40, a part of which has been published by Captain Sprague[69 - History of the Florida War. Ch. viii.] and Mr. Fairbanks,[70 - History of St. Augustine. Ch. xiv.] but the greater portion still remaining inedited in the archives of St. Augustine, offers a full exposition of the views of their opponents.

A very important document bearing on the relations between the rival Spanish and English colonies, is the Report of the Committee appointed by the Commons House of Assembly of Carolina, to examine into the cause of the failure of Oglethorpe’s expedition. In the Introduction[71 - Statements made in the Introduction to a Report on General Oglethorpe’s Expedition to St. Augustine. In B. R. Carroll’s Hist. Colls. of South Carolina, Vol. II., New York, 1836. Various papers in the State Paper Office, London, mentioned in the valuable list in the first volume of the Colls. of the S. Car. Hist. Soc. (Charleston, 1857) which further illustrate this portion of Floridian history, I have, for obvious reasons, omitted to recapitulate here.] are given a minute description of the town, castle and military condition of St. Augustine, and a full exposition of the troubles between the two colonies, from the earliest settlement of the English upon the coast. Coming from the highest source, it deserves entire confidence.

Besides these original authorities, the biographies of Governor Oglethorpe, by W. B. O. Peabody, in Sparks’ American Biography, by Thomas Spalding, in the publications of the Georgia Historical Society, and especially that by the Rev. T. M. Harris, are well worthy of comparison in this connection.

In the catalogue of those who have done signal service to American history by the careful collation of facts and publication of rare or inedited works, must ever be enrolled among the foremost Andres Gonzales Barcia. His three volumes of Historiadores Primitivos de las Indias Occidentales, are well known to every one at all versed in the founts of American history. His earliest work of any note, published many years before this, is entitled A Chronological Essay on the History of Florida.[72 - Ensayo Cronologico para la Historia General de la Florida, fol. Madrid, 1723.] He here signs himself, by an anagram on his real name, Don Gabriel de Cardenas z Cano, and is often referred to by this assumed title. In accordance with Spanish usage, under the term Florida, he embraced all that part of the continent north of Mexico, and consequently but a comparatively small portion is concerned with the history of the peninsula. What there is, however, renders it the most complete, and in many cases, the only source of information. The account of the French colonies is minute, but naturally quite one-sided. He is “in all points an apologist for his countrymen, and an implacable enemy to the Heretics, the unfortunate Huguenots, who hoped to find an asylum from persecution in the forests of the New World.”[73 - Jared Sparks, Life of Ribaut, p. 155.] The Essay is arranged in the form of annals, divided into decades and years, (Decadas, Años,) and extends from 1512 to 1723, inclusive. Neither this nor any of his writings can boast of elegance of style. In some portions he is even obscure, and at best is not readable by any but the professed historian. Among writers in our own tongue, for indefatigability in inquiry, for assiduity in collecting facts and homeliness in presenting them, he may not inaptly be compared to John Strype, the persevering author of the Ecclesiastical Memorials.

His work was severely criticised at its appearance by Don Josef de Salazar, historiographer royal to Philip V, “a man of less depth of research and patient investigation than Barcia, but a more polished composer.” He was evidently actuated in part by a jealousy of his rival’s superior qualifications for his own post. The criticism repays perusal. None of Salazar’s works are of any standing, and like many another, he lives in history only by his abuse of a more capable man.

In the preface to his History of Florida, Mr. Williams informs us that he had in his possession “a rare and ancient manuscript in the Spanish language, in which the early history of Florida was condensed, with a regular succession of dates and events.” He adds, that the information here contained about the Catholic missions and the extent of the Spanish power had been “invaluable” to him. If this was an authentic manuscript, it probably dated from this period. Williams obtained it from Mr. Fria, an alderman of New York, and not understanding the language himself, had it translated. It is to be regretted that he has not imparted more of the “invaluable information” to his readers. The only passages which he quotes directly, induce me to believe that he was imposed upon by a forgery, or, if genuine, that the account was quite untrustworthy. Thus it spoke of a successful expedition for pearls to Lake Myaco, or Okee-chobee, which I need hardly say, is a body of fresh water, where the Mya margaratifera could not live. The extent of the Franciscan missions is grossly exaggerated, as I shall subsequently show. Rome at no time chartered a great religious province in Florida, whose principal house was at St. Augustine;[74 - Nat. and Civil Hist. of Fla., p. 175.] nor does Mr. Williams’ work exhibit any notable influx of previously unknown facts about the native tribes, though he says on this point, his manuscript was especially copious. On the whole, we need not bewail the loss, or lament the non-publication of this record.

The latest account of the Spanish colony during this period, is that by Captain Robinson, who visited the country in 1754. It is only a short letter, and is found appended to Roberts’ History of Florida.

In the language of the early geographers, however, this name had a far more extensive signification, and many books bear it on their title pages which have nothing to do with the peninsula. Thus an interesting tract in Peter Force’s collection entitled “A Relation of a Discovery lately made on the Coast of Florida,” is taken up altogether with the shores of South Carolina. The superficial and trifling book of Daniel Coxe, insignificant in everything but its title, proposes to describe the Province “by the Spaniards called Florida,” whereas the region now bearing this name, was the only portion of the country east of the Mississippi and south of the St. Lawrence not included in the extensive claim the work was written to defend. In the same category is Catesby’s Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands. This distinguished naturalist during his second voyage to America, (1722) spent three years in Carolina, “and in the adjacent parts, which the Spaniards call Florida, particularly that province lately honored with the name of Georgia.” How much time he spent in the peninsula, or whether he was there at all, does not appear.

§ 4.—The English Supremacy. 1763-1780

No sooner had England obtained possession of her new colony than a lively curiosity was evinced respecting its capabilities and prospects. To satisfy this, William Roberts, a professional writer, and author of several other works, compiled a natural and civil history of the country, which was published the year of the cession, under the supervision of Thomas Jefferys, geographer royal.[75 - An Account of the First Discovery and Natural History of Florida, with a Particular Detail of the several Expeditions made on that Coast. Collected from the best Authorities by William Roberts. Together with a Geographical Description of that Country, by Thomas Jefferys. 4to, London, 1763, pp. 102.] It ran through several editions, and though it has received much more praise than is its proper due, it certainly is a useful summary of the then extant knowledge of Florida, and contains some facts concerning the Indians not found in prior works. The natural history of the country is mentioned nowhere out of the title page; the only persons who paid any attention worth speaking of to this were the Bartrams, father and son. Their works come next under our notice.

John Bartram was born of a Quaker family in Chester county, Pennsylvania, in 1701. From his earliest youth he manifested that absorbing love for the natural sciences, especially botany, that in after years won for him from no less an authority than the immortal Linnæus, the praise of being “the greatest botanist in the New World.” He was also the first in point of time. Previously all investigations had been prosecuted by foreigners in a vague and local manner. Bartram went far deeper than this. On the pleasant banks of the Schuylkill, near Philadelphia, he constructed the first botanic garden that ever graced the soil of the New World; here to collect the native flora, he esteemed no journey too long or too dangerous. After the cession, he was appointed “Botanist to His Majesty for both the Floridas,” and though already numbering over three-score years, he hastened to visit that land whose name boded so well for his beloved science. Accompanied only by his equally enthusiastic son William, he ascended the St. Johns in an open boat as far as Lake George, daily noting down the curiosities of the vegetable kingdom, and most of the time keeping a thermometrical record. On his return, he sent his journal to his friends in England under whose supervision, though contrary to his own desire, it was published.[76 - A description of East Florida. A Journal upon a Journey from St. Augustine up the River St. Johns as far as the Lakes. 4to., London, 1766; 1769; and a third edition whose date I do not know. Numerous letters interchanged between John Bartram and Peter Collinson relative to this botanical examination of Florida, embracing some facts not found in his Journal, are preserved in the very interesting and valuable Memorials of John Bartram and Humphrey Marshall, by Dr. Wm. Darlington, p. 268, sqq. (8vo. Phila., 1849.)] It makes a thin quarto, divided into two parts paged separately. The first is a general description of the country, apparently a reprint of an essay by the editor, Dr. Stork, a botanist likewise, and member of the Royal Society, who had visited Florida. The second part is Bartram’s diary, enriched with elaborate botanical notes and an Introduction by the editor. It is merely the daily jottings of a traveller and could never have been revised; but the matter is valuable both to the naturalist and antiquary.

The younger Bartram could never efface from his memory the quiet beauty and boundless floral wealth of the far south. About ten years afterwards therefore, when Dr. Fothergill and other patrons had furnished him the means to prosecute botanical researches throughout the Southern States, he extended his journey to Florida. He made three trips in the peninsula, one up the St. Johns as far as Long Lake, a second from “the lower trading house,” where Palatka now stands, across the savannas of Alachua to the Suwannee, and another up the St. Johns, this time ascending no further than Lake George. The work he left is in many respects remarkable;[77 - Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida, and the Cherokee Country, Phila., 1791; 1794. London, 1792. Dublin, 1793. French trans. by P. V. Benoist, Voyage dans les Parties Sud de l’Amerique, Septentrionale, Paris, 1801; 1807.] “it is written” said Coleridge “in the spirit of the old travellers.” A genuine love of nature pervades it, a deep religious feeling breathes through it, and an artless and impassioned eloquence graces his descriptions of natural scenery, rendering them eminently vivid and happy. With all these beauties, he is often turgid and verbose, his transitions from the sublime to the common-place jar on a cultivated ear, and he is too apt to scorn anything less than a superlative. Hence his representations are exaggerated, and though they may hold true to him who sees unutterable beauties in the humblest flower, to the majority they seem the extravaganzas of fancy. He is generally reliable, however, in regard to single facts, and as he was a quick and keen observer of every remarkable object about him, his work takes a most important position among our authorities, and from the amount of information it conveys respecting the aborigines, is indispensable to the library of every Indianologist.

A very interesting natural history of the country is that written by Bernard Romans.[78 - A Concise Natural History of East and West Florida. New York printed: sold by R. Aitken, Bookseller, opposite the London Coffee-House, Front Street, 1776.] This author, in his capacity of engineer in the British service, lived a number of years in the territory, traversing it in various directions, observing and noting with care both its natural features and the manners and customs of the native tribes. On the latter he is quite copious and is one of our standard authors. His style is discursive and original though occasionally bombastic, and many of his opinions are peculiar and bold. Extensive quotations from him are inserted by the American translator in the Appendix to Volney’s View of the United States. He wrote various other works, bearing principally on the war of independence. A point of interest to the bookworm in his History is that the personal pronoun I, is printed throughout as a small letter.

A work on a contested land title, privately printed in London for the parties interested about the middle of this period,[79 - The case of Mr. John Gordon with respect to the Title to certain Lands in East Florida, &c. With an Appendix and Plan. 4to, pp. 76, London, 1772. (Rich.)] might possess some little interest from the accompanying plan, but in other respects is probably valueless. There is a manuscript work by John Gerard Williams de Brahm, preserved in the library of Harvard College, which “contains some particulars of interest relative to Florida at the period of the English occupation.”[80 - Fairbanks, Hist. and Antiqs. of St. Augustine, p. 164, seq.] Extracts from it are given by Mr. Fairbanks, descriptive of the condition of St. Augustine from 1763 to 1771, and of the English in the province. This De Brahm was a government surveyor, and spent a number of years on the eastern coasts of the United States while a British province.