lived in the vicinity of the English colony at Charleston, South
Carolina. Their predatory habits made them particularly troublesome in
1669-1671 and in 1674, when they had to be repulsed by an army of
volunteers. The Stonos must have lived north of the colony, or on the
upper course of some river, for, in 1674, they are described as
"coming down" (Hewat, Histor. Account of S. C. and Ga., London 1779;
I, 51. 77). Stono Inlet is the name of a cove near Charleston. Both
tribes also met with disastrous reverses at the hands of the Savannah
Indians, probably the Yámassi (Archdale). They are both mentioned as
having belonged to the Kataba confederacy, but this does not by any
means prove that they spoke Kataba or a dialect of it. As to the name,
the Westo Indians may be identified with the Oustacs of Lederer (who
are reported as being at war with the Usherees), and with the Hostaqua
of René de Laudonnière, who mentions them as forming a confederacy
under a paracusi in the northern parts of the "Floridian" territory.
Possibly the Creek word ō′sta _four_, in the sense of "four
allied tribes," has given origin to this tribal name (ostáka in
Alibamu).
The affinity of the extinct Congaree Indians, on Congaree river, is
doubtful also; Lawson relates that they did not understand the speech
of the Waterees and Chicarees. Cf. Kataba. Owing to the inactivity of
the local historians, our ethnographic information on the North and
South Carolina Indians is extremely meagre and unsatisfactory.