The Lily and the Totem; or, The Huguenots in Florida

by William Gilmore Simms

  XVI.

  HISTORICAL SUMMARY.

  Sustained and reassured by the return of his lieutenant, Laudonniere,released from his bonds, proceeded to re-organize his garrison. Hepromoted those who had proved faithful when all threatened to be false,and deprived the doubtful, or the dangerous, of all their previoustrusts. To improve and strengthen his forts, to build vessels, whichwere to supply the places of those which the mutineers had taken, andothers of smaller burthen for the express navigation of the river, werehis immediate cares, in all of which his progress was considerable.During this period he lived on relations of tolerable amity with hisIndian neighbors. Their little crops had, by this time, been harvested,and they were not unwilling to exchange their surplus productions forthe objects of European manufacture which they coveted. The suppliesbrought by the red-men were "fish, deere, turki-cocks, leopards, littlebeares, and other things, according to the place of their habitation,"for which they were recompensed with "certaine hatchets, knives, beadesof glasse, combs, and looking-glasses." The "leopards and littlebeares" were probably wild cats and raccoons, or opossums, all of whichfurnished excellent feeding to our hungry Frenchmen in September. Thewild-cat is usually a fat beast, differing very considerably from themore savage tribes to whom we liken him, the wolf and the panther; whilethe opossum is probably the fattest of all animals at seasons when theforest mast is abundant. Of the quality of the meat we will say nothing.To those with whom the appetite has been made properly subservient tothe taste, and who suffer from no necessities, his flavor is scarcelysuch as legitimates his admission into the kitchen. But the case is farotherwise with those inferior tribes with whom the appetites are coarseand eager. The negro is seldom so well satisfied as when he feeds on'possum. "'Possum," is the common remark among this people, "'possumheap better than pig!" To those who know how high is the estimate whichthe negro sets upon the pig family--an estimate which is the occasion ofan epidemic under which a fat pig, straying into the woods in June andJuly, is sure to perish--the compliment is inappreciable.

  Thus, feeding well, with his health and self-esteem graduallyrecovering, Laudonniere began to resume his explorations, and to casthis eyes about him with his old desire for precious discoveries. It wasabout this time that he was visited by a couple of savages from thedominions of King Maracou. This potentate dwelt some forty leagues tothe south of La Caroline. The Indians, among other matters, relatedto Laudonniere that, in the service of another native monarch namedOnathaqua, there was a man whom they called "Barbu, or the bearded man,"who was not of the people of the country. Another foreigner, whose namethey knew not, was said to inhabit the house of King Mathiaca, aforest chieftain, whose tribes occupied a contiguous region. From thedescriptions thus given him, Laudonniere readily conceived that thesestrange men were Christians. He accordingly opened a communication withthe tribes by which the intermediate country was occupied, and under thestimulus of a liberal recompense, promised them in European goods, thetwo strangers were brought in safety to La Caroline. The conjectureof Laudonniere proved rightly founded. They were white men andChristians--Spaniards who had suffered shipwreck some fifteen yearsbefore, upon the flats called "The Martyrs," and over and against thatregion of the country, which at this period was called Calos--from agreat native prince of that name.[22] This savage repaired to the wreck,and carried off into captivity its crew and passengers. Many of thesewere women, who became the wives of their conquerors. The king of Calos,whom a Spaniard described as the "goodliest and the tallest Indian ofthe country, a mighty man, a warrior, and having many subjects underhis obedience," not only saved the Europeans from their wreck, but, bydiligent and indefatigable perseverance, rescued most of the treasurethat was in the vessel; the wealth which had been gleaned withunsparing cruelties from the bowels of the earth in Peru and Mexico. Thetreasures thus obtained by King Calos, were represented to be of almostlimitless value. "He had great store of golde and silver, so farre forththat, in a certaine village, he had a pit full thereof, which was atthe least as high as a man, and as large as a tunne." According to ourSpaniards, it might be easy, "with an hundred shot," to obtain all thisspoil; to say nothing of the scattered treasures which might be gleanedfrom the common people of the country. That the extent of theirresources might not be under-valued, the captive Christians fartherinformed him, that the young women of the country, when engaged in theirprimitive dances, assembled to their festivities in a glorious costume,such as would be an irresistible charm in any European assembly. Theywere not only lovely in themselves, with their dark beauties partiallyunfolded to the gaze, and the tawny hues enlivened by the warm lustre ofthe sun, shining in crimson flushes through the prevailing hue of thecomplexion, but they wore, suspended from their girdles, plates of gold,large as a saucer, the number and weight of which would have totallyimpeded the action as well as agility of any but a people so exquisitelyand vigorously proportioned. The men wore similar decorations, thoughnot perhaps in such great profusion. This gold, according to theiraccount, was derived chiefly from vessels cast away--the coasts ofthe territory of King Calos being particularly treacherous, and theirsecret, lurking shoals frequently rising up suddenly to rob the kingof Spain of his hardly-won ingots. The residue of his wealth in theprecious metals, King Calos derived from the kings and chiefs of theinterior. Perhaps more of it was obtained in this way than our Spaniardsknew. There can be no doubt but that the mines of the great Apalachianranges were explored, however imperfectly, by the red-men of thecountry, following, in all probability, some superior races, whofirst taught them where to look, and of whom we have now but the mostimperfect vestiges.

  [22] "Ces Calos ou Carlos, sont anthropophages, et fort cruels, ils demeurent dans une Baye, qui porte egalement leur nom, et celui de Ponce de Leon."--CHARLEVOIX.

  Among the articles of traffic, which the people of Calos sold tothe interior tribes, was a domestic root, constituting a favoritebread-stuff which was particularly grateful to the palates of theirpeople. This is described as forming a fine flour, than which it it isimpossible to find better, and as supplying the wants of an immensetract of country. It was undoubtedly the breadstuff known as _coonti_ inmodern periods. This, and a species of date, taken from a sort of palmtree--the persimmon probably--were commodities in which they dealtto great extent. Of the root from which they made their favoritebreadstuff, it is written, that the proprietors were very slow to partwith, unless well paid for it. The people of King Calos are probablyto be traced through a thousand fluctuations of place, character andfortune, to the Seminoles of recent periods--a like people, living inthe same region, and rejoicing in the same fruits and freedom.

  Of this King Calos, the narrative of our Spaniards goes farther, passingfinally into the province of the miraculous. He is described as a princeheld in special reverence by his subjects;--not simply for his valoras a soldier, or his wisdom as a ruler, but his wondrous powers as amagician. He seems to have combined the civil and the religious powersof the nation--to have been priest and prophet as well as Governor. Thegovernment of his country, like that of simple nations generally, wastheocratic and patriarchal. His people were taught to believe that itwas through his spells and incantations, that the earth brought forthher fruits. He resorted to various arts to perpetuate this faith, andvarious cruelties to subdue and punish that spirit of inquiry whichmight test too closely the propriety of his spiritual claims. Twice ayear he retired from the sight of all his subjects, two or three of hisfriends alone excepted, and was supposed, at this season, to be busywith his mighty sorceries. Woe to the unlucky wretch who, whetherpurposely or by accident, intruded upon his mysteries. The dwelling towhich he had resort was tabooed on every hand; and death, with the mostfearful penalties, stood warningly at all the avenues by which it wasapproached. Each year a prisoner was sacrificed to the savage god heserved; and this prisoner, so long as Barbu had been a captive, had beena Spaniard always--the supply being sufficient, from the frequency ofwrecks upon the coast, by which an adequate number of capti
ves wasalways to be had. The dominions of Calos are described as lying along ariver, beyond the cape of Florida, forty or fifty leagues towards thesouthwest; while those of Onathaqua were nearer to La Caroline, on thenorthern side of the cape, "in a place which we call in the chart,Cannaverel, which is in 28 degrees."

  When the two Spaniards were brought before Laudonniere they wereentirely naked. Their hair hung below their loins, as did that of thesavages; and so completely had they become accustomed to the habits ofthe red-men, that the resumption of the costume of civilization was notonly strange but irksome. But Laudonniere was not disposed to permittheir acquired habits to supersede those of their origin. He caused thehair of his newly-found Christians to be shorn, as heedless of the lossof strength which might follow as ever was Dalilah while docking thelong locks of her giant lover. It was with great reluctance that thewild men submitted to this shearing. When the hair was finally taken offthey insisted upon preserving it, and rolling it in linen put it awaycarefully, to be shown in Europe as a proof of their wild and cruelexperience. In removing the shock from one of them, a little treasureof gold was found hidden in its masses, to the value of five-and-twentycrowns, by which the Spaniard conclusively proved that one portion ofhis Spanish education had never deserted him. What a commentary upon thewisdom of civilization, that, in such a state, with such bonds,after such losses, of freedom, position, and the society of all thewell-beloved and equal, his heart should still yearn for the keeping ofa treasure which must, at every moment, have only served to mock thepossessor with the dearer treasures of home, country, friends, religion,of which his fortunes had made utter forfeit. But let us pass to thenarrative of Barbu, himself--one of the recovered Spaniards--which weowe, in some degree to history, but mostly to tradition.