_How the Governor left Chiaha, and, having run a hazard of
falling by the hands of the Indians, at Acoste, escaped by his
address: what occurred to him on the route, and how he came to
Coça._
When the Governor had determined to move from Chiaha towards
Coste,[262] he sent for the cacique to come before him, and with
kind words took his leave, receiving some slaves as a gift, which
pleased him. In seven days the journey was concluded. On the
second day of July, the camp being pitched among the trees, two
crossbow-shot distant from the town, he went with eight men of his
guard toward where the cacique was, who received him evidently with
great friendship. While they were conversing, some infantry went
into the town after maize, and, not satisfied with what they got,
they rummaged and searched the houses, taking what they would; at
which conduct the owners began to rise and arm; some of them, with
clubs in their hands, going at five or six men who had given offence,
beat them to their satisfaction. The Governor, discovering that they
were all bent upon some mischief, and himself among them with but
few Christians about him, turned to escape from the difficulty by a
stratagem much against his nature, clear and reliable as it was, and
the more unwillingly as it grieved him that an Indian should presume,
either with or without cause, to offer any indignity to a Christian:
he seized a stave and took part with the assailants against his own
people, which while it gave confidence, directly he sent a message
secretly to the camp, that armed men should approach where he was;
then taking the chief by the hand, speaking to him with kind words,
drew him with some principal men away from the town, out into an open
road in sight of the encampment, where cautiously the Christians
issued and by degrees surrounded them. In this manner they were
conducted within the tents; and when near his marquee the Governor
ordered them to be put under guard. He told them that they could not
go thence without giving him a guide and Indians for carrying loads,
nor until the sick men had arrived whom he had ordered to come down
by the river in canoes from Chiaha, and so likewise those he had
sent to the province of Chisca. He feared that both the one and the
other had been killed by the Indians. In three days they that went
to Chisca got back, and related that they had been taken through a
country so scant of maize, and with such high mountains, that it was
impossible the army should march in that direction; and finding the
distance was becoming long, and that they should be back late, upon
consultation they agreed to return, coming from a poor little town
where there was nothing of value, bringing a cow-hide as delicate as
a calf-skin the people had given them, the hair being like the soft
wool on the cross of the merino with the common sheep.
[262] This place was located on one of the islands in the
Tennessee River, just above Chattanooga.
The cacique having furnished the guide and tamemes, by permission of
the Governor he went his way. The Christians left Coste the ninth day
of July, and slept that night at Tali.[263] The cacique had come from
the town to meet the Governor on the road, and made him this speech:--
EXCELLENT GREAT PRINCE:
Worthy are you of being served and obeyed by all the princes
of the world, for by the face can one judge far of the inner
qualities. Who you are I knew, and also of your power, before
your coming here. I wish not to draw attention to the lowliness
in which I stand before you, to make my poor services acceptable
and agreeable, since, where the strength fails, the will should
instead be praised and taken. Hence, I dare to ask that you will
only consider and attend to what you will command me to do here
in your country.
[263] Tali was located in the bend of the Tennessee River, just
below Chattanooga. Here they left the river.
The Governor answered, that his good-will and offer pleased him as
much as though he had tendered him all the treasures of the earth:
that he would always be treated by him as a true brother, favored and
esteemed. The cacique ordered provision to be brought for two days'
use, the time the Governor should be present; and on his departure,
gave him the use of two men and four women, who were wanted to carry
burdens.
They travelled six days, passing by many towns subject to the
cacique of Coça; and, as they entered those territories, numerous
messengers came from him on the road every day to the Governor, some
going, others coming, until they arrived at Coça,[264] on Friday,
the sixteenth of July. The cacique came out to receive him at the
distance of two crossbow-shot from the town, borne in a litter on the
shoulders of his principal men, seated on a cushion, and covered with
a mantle of marten-skins, of the size and shape of a woman's shawl:
on his head he wore a diadem of plumes, and he was surrounded by
many attendants playing upon flutes and singing. Coming to where the
Governor was, he made his obeisance, and followed it by these words:--
POWERFUL LORD, SUPERIOR TO EVERY OTHER OF THE EARTH:
Although I come but now to meet you, it is a long time since
I have received you in my heart. That was done the first day
I heard of you, with so great desire to serve, please, and
give you contentment, that this, which I express, is nothing
in comparison with that which is within me. Of this you may be
sure, that to have received the dominion of the world would not
have interested me so greatly as the sight of you, nor would
I have held it for so great a felicity. Do not look for me to
offer you that which is your own--this person, these lands,
these vassals. My only desire is to employ myself in commanding
these people, that, with all diligence and befitting respect,
they conduct you hence to the town in festivity of voices and
with flutes, where you will be lodged and waited upon by me and
them, where all I possess you will do with as with your own, and
in thus doing you will confer favor.
[264] Coça may not have been the Coosa of the last century, which
was located some two miles north of Childersburg, in Talladega
County, Alabama.
The Governor gave him thanks, and with mutual satisfaction they
walked on toward the place conferring, the Indians giving up their
habitations by order of their cacique, and in which the General and
his men took lodging. In the barbacoas was a great quantity of maize
and beans: the country, thickly settled in numerous and large towns,
with fields between, extending from one to another, was pleasant, and
had a rich soil with fair river margins. In the woods were many plums
(persimmons), as well those of Spain as of the country; and wild
grapes on vines growing up into the trees, near the streams; likewise
a kind that grew on low vines elsewhere, the berry being large and
sweet, but, for want of hoeing and dressing, had large stones.
It was the practice to keep watch over the caciques that none
should absent themselves, they being taken along by the Governor
until coming out of their territories; for by thus having them the
inhabitants would await their arrival in the towns, give a guide, and
men to carry the loads, who before leaving their country would have
liberty to return to their homes, as sometimes would the tamemes,
so soon as they came to the domain of any chief where others could
be got. The people of Coça, seeing their lord was detained, took it
amiss, and, going off, hid themselves in the scrub, as well those
of the town of the cacique as those of the towns of the principal
men his vassals. The Governor despatched four captains in as many
directions to search for them: many men and women were taken who were
put in chains. Seeing how much harm they received, and how little
they gained by going off, they came in, declaring that they desired
to serve in all that was possible. Of the prisoners, some of the
chiefs, whom the cacique interceded for, were let go; of the rest,
each one took away with him as slaves those he had in chains, none
returning to their country save some whose fortune it was to escape,
laboring diligently to file off their irons at night; or, while on
the march, could slip out of the way, observing the carelessness of
those who had them in charge, sometimes taking off with them in their
chains the burdens and the clothing with which they were laden.