USA > Georgia > Georgia's landmarks, memorials and legends, Volume II > Part 34
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THE ENCHANTED ISLAND
but were born of the great orb of day, from which cir- cumstance, as well as because of the radiant beams of light which they seemed everywhere to diffuse, they were called Daughters of the Sun.
The island on which they dwelt in the deep recesses of the swamp was indeed a fragment of the Lost Para- dise. It was embowered by the most delightful foliage, which, throughout the whole year, remained perennially green. This was because, on every side, it was well pro- tected by the dense everglades. There were sparkling streams of the most transparent crystal, there were fruits the like of which grew nowhere else, and there were flowers of such an exquisite hue and fragrance that they seemed to have dropped from heaven. But words can give no hint or suggestion of the beauty which be- longed to this rare bower. The task must be left to the imagination.
On one occasion some hunters, in pursuit of game, found themselves hopelessly entangled in the deep laby- rinths of the great swamp. They wandered for hours through the bogs and marshes, finding no means of egress, when finally, on the verge of despair, they beheld through an open vista the most inviting of visions-au island, whose soft fringes of emerald, contrasting with the coarse underbrush about them, beckoned the hunters to approach. Revived by the prospect, they pressed eagerly forward. There was no longer any sense of fatigue. They were now invigorated in every limb, whereas a moment ago they were about to faint with exhaustion. Strange it is what a power the mind exer- cises over the body, thus to give it renewed strength in an instant, simply by an exchange of mental pictures !
As the Indians approached the island, its wealth of attractions became more and more apparent. They es- pied in the distance, through the green lace-work of foliage, a lake, whose surface glistened like polished steel in the clear sunlight, while bordering it were orange trees whose luscious globes gave it an exquisite fringe of
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gold. But, having so far penetrated with the eye into this strange fairyland, they were destined to approach no further. The very tortures of Tantalus now seized them, for while they continued to move with impulsive haste in the direction of the island, it came, visibly at least, no nearer. At last they were again overcome by fatigue. They also began to feel the sharp pangs of hunger, and once more the Indians were about to sink to the ground, when there arose before them, seemingly out of the very air itself, so ethereal was the dream-like ap- pearance which they presented, a group of beautiful women, who proved to be none other than the Daughters of the Sun.
If the hunters were bewitched by the scenery of the island, they were transported by the loveliness of the fair inhabitants. But ere the rising raptures within them could be put into articulate expression, they were told to advance no further. The women were exceed -. ingly gracious. They spoke in accents of music and with divine compassion they smiled upon. the hunters; but they warned them of the danger in which they stood from irate husbands, who were fierce men, and exceed- ingly cruel to strangers. But the sense of fear produced no disturbance in the presence of such radiant appari- tions. The hunters were like men transfixed. They re- fused to betake themselves to flight.
Finally the women, in tears, besought them to leave at once. The hunters were quite naturally touched by this display of emotion. They were ignorant of the way back to the settlement, but agreed to go, first craving a morsel of food to sustain them along the journey home. Without a moment's loss of time they were given abun- dant supplies, among other things, delicious fruits, marsh eggs, and corn pones, the most delightful they had ever eaten. The hunters were then shown a path by which they might return in safety to the settlements. With great reluctance the Indians proceeded to take it, but they mentally resolved to return with re-enforcements
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TAMAR ESCAPES FROM THE INDIANS
and to conquer this mysterious region, for they wished to make wives of these beautiful Daughters of the Sun. No sooner were they ready to depart than the women vanished as suddenly as they had come into sight; and the hunters, after encountering manifold difficulties, at last arrived in the settlements. When the adventurous story was told about the camp-fires, there was no lack of volunteers to undertake the hazardous expedition ; but every effort to find the enchanted island resulted in utter failure. It was effectually concealed by some subtle power of magic in the bosom of the great swamp.
XII Tamar Escapes from the Indians
Not long after the Revolution there lived, on the banks of Coody's Creek, in the flat woods of what is now the County of Elbert, a poor but worthy man by the name of Mr. Richard Tyner. During his absence one day a party of Indians made an attack upon his home, and Mrs. Tyner was killed, together with her youngest child, whose head was dashed against a tree. Another child was scalped, and left for dead, while a third, whose name was Noah, succeeded, amidst the con- fusion, in escaping the notice of the Indians, and crept into a hollow tree, which for many years afterwards was known by the name of Noah's Ark. An elder son of Mr. Tyner fled to the Savannah River and was pur- sued by some of the savages, but he effected his escape. Mary and Tamar, two daughters, were carried by the Indians to Coweta Town, and here they remained for several years, until an Indian trader named John Manack purchased Mary, who returned with him to the County of Elbert, and became his wife. At another time he offered to purchase Tamar, but the Indians refused to sell her. The main employment of Tamar was to bring wood. One day, an old Indian woman informed her
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that her captors, suspecting her of an effort to escape, had resolved to burn her alive. The feelings of the poor girl can be better imagined than described. She deter- mined, if possible, upon immediate flight. The old woman obtained for her a canoe, well supplied with provisions, and gave her directions how to proceed down the Chatta- hoochee River. Bidding adieu to her benefactress, Ta- mar launched her canoe and commenced her perilous voyage down the stream. During the day she secreted herself amidst the thick swamps of the river, and at night pursued her course. She finally reached Appa- lachicola Bay, embarked on a vessel going eastward around the peninsula of Florida, and at last arrived in Savannah. With the assistance of some of the citizens she was enabled ere long to reach her home in Elbert, where she afterwards married a Mr. Hunt, and many of her descendants are still living in Georgia .*
XIII De Soto and the Indian Widow
Learning that the queen's mother, who resided some twelve leagues down the Savannah, was a widow, De Soto expressed a strong desire to see her. This wish was doubtless born of the fact that she was reported to be the owner of many precious pearls. Upon intimating his pleasure, the queen of Cutafa-chiqui dispatched twelve of her prominent subjects to entreat her mother to come and see the wonderful strangers and the extraordinary animals which they had brought with them. To these messengers the widow administered a severe rebuke, declining to accompany them, and returned to her daugh- ter words condemnatory of her conduct.
Still intent upon his object, De Soto dispatched Juan de Anasco, with thirty companions, to secure the pres-
*White's Historical Collections, with slight verbal changes.
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ence of the queen mother. They were accompanied by a youthful warrior, whom the queen selected as a guide. He was a near relative of the widow, and had been reared by her from an infant. It was supposed that he, of all others, could best bespeak for the expedition a con- siderate reception. In the blush of early manhood, he possessed handsome features. His head was decorated with lofty plumes. He wore a mantle of dressed deer- skin. In his hand he bore a beautiful bow, so highly var- nished as to appear as if highly enameled; and at his shoulder hung a quiver full of arrows. Indeed, his whole appearance is said to have made him an ambassador worthy of the young and beautiful princess, whom he served.
What next befell the deputation, we relate in the lan- guage of Theodore Irving, who quotes from Garcilasso de la Vega :
"Juan de Anasco, with his comrades, having pro- ceeded nearly three leagues, stopped to make their mid- day meal and take their repose beneath the shade of some wide-spreading trees, as the heat was oppressive. The Indian guide until now had proved a cheerful and joyous companion, entertaining them along the way with accounts of the surrounding country and the adjacent provinces. On a sudden, after they had halted, he be- came moody and thoughtful, and, leaning his head upon his hand, fell into a reverie, uttering repeated and deep- drawn sighs. The Spaniards noted his dejection, but fearing to increase it, forbode to demand the cause.
" After a time he quietly took off his quiver, and, plac- ing it before him, drew out the arrows slowly, one by one. They were marvelous for the skill and excellence with which they were formed. Their shafts were reeds. Some were tipped with buck's horn, wrought with four corners like a diamond; some were pointed with the bones of fishes, curiously fashioned; others with barbs of the palm and other hard woods, and some were three-pronged. The Spaniards could not sufficiently admire their beauty,
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and they passed them from hand to hand, examining and praising their workmanship and extolling the skill of their owner. The youthful Indian continued thought- fully emptying his quiver, until, almost at the last, he drew forth an arrow with a point of flint, long and sharp, and shaped like a dagger; then, casting around a glance, and seeing the Spaniards engaged in admiring his darts, he suddenly plunged the weapon in his throat and fell dead upon the spot.
"Shocked at the circumstance, and grieved at not having been able to prevent it, the Spaniards called to the Indian attendants and demanded the reason of this melancholy act in one who had just been so joyous. The Indians broke into loud lamentations over the corpse ; for the youth was tenderly beloved by them, and they knew the grief his untimely death would cause both to the queen and her mother. They could only account for his self-destruction by supposing him perplexed and af- flicted by his embassy. He knew that his errand would be distasteful to the mother, and apprehended that the plan of the Spaniards was to carry her off. He alone knew the place of her concealment, and it appeared to his generous mind an unworthy return for her love and confidence thus to betray her to strangers. On the other hand, he was aware that should he disobey the mandates of his young mistress he would lose her favor and fall into disgrace. Either of these alternatives would be worse than death; he had therefore chosen death, as the lesser evil, and as leaving to his mistress a proof of his loyalty and devotion.
"Such was the conjecture of the Indians, to which the Spaniards were inclined to give faith. Grieving over the death of the high-minded youth, they mournfully resumed the journey. They now, however, found them- selves at a loss about the road. None of the Indians knew in what part of the country the widow was con- cealed, the young guide who had killed himself being alone master of the secret. For the rest of the day and
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THE MAN WHO MARRIED THE THUNDERER'S SISTER
till the following noon they made a fruitless search, taking prisoners some natives, all of whom professed utter ignorance on the subject. Juan de Anasco, being a fleshy man and somewhat choleric, was almost in a fever with the vexation of his spirit, the weight of his armor, and the heat of the day; he was obliged, how- ever, to give up the quest after the widow, and to return to the camp much mortified at having for once failed in an enterprise.
"Three days afterwards, upon an offer of an Indian to guide him, by water, to the point where the widow se- creted herself, Anasco, with twenty companions, departed in two canoes for the purpose of capturing her. At the end of six days he returned, vexed and chagrined at the failure of the expedition. Thus did the queen's mother avoid the Spaniards and preserve her pearls .*
XIV
The Man Who Married the Thunderer's Sister
In the old times people used to dance often and all night. Once there was a dance at the old town of Sak- wiyi, at the head of the Chattahoochee, and after it was well started two young women with beautiful long hair came in, but no one knew who they were, or whence they had come. They danced with first one partner and then another, and in the morning slipped away before any one knew that they were gone; but a young warrior, who had fallen in love with one of the sisters on account of her beautiful hair, and after the manner of the Chero- kees, had asked her, through an old woman, if she would marry him and let him live with her. To which the young woman replied that her brother at home must first be consulted, and she promised to return for the next dance, seven days later, with an answer, but in the meantime,
*Reproduced, with minor variations, from the History of Georgia, by Charles C. Jones, Jr.
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if the young man really loved her, he must prove his constancy by a rigid fast until then. The eager lover readily agreed and impatiently counted the days.
In seven nights there was another dance. The young warrior was on hand early, and later in the evening the two sisters appeared, as suddenly as before. The one with whom he was infatuated told him that her brother was willing, and after the dance she would conduct the young man to her home, but warned him if he told any one where he went or what he saw he would surely die.
He danced with her again, and about daylight he left with the two sisters, just before the dance closed, so as to avoid being followed, and they started off together. The women led the way along a trail through the woods, which the young man had never noticed before, until they came to a small creek, where, without hesitating, they stepped into the water. The young man paused in sur- prise on the bank, and thought to himself, "They are walking in the water; I do not wish to do that." The women understood his thoughts, just as though he had spoken, and turned and said to him, "This is not water; this is the road to our house." He still hesitated, but they urged him on until he stepped into the water and found it was only soft grass that made a fine level trail.
They went on until the path came to a large stream, which he knew to be Tallulah River. The women plunged boldly in, but again the warrior hesitated on the bank, thinking to himself, "That water is very deep and will drown me! I cannot go on." They knew his thoughts again, and turned and said; "This is not water, but the main trail that goes past our house, which is now close by." He stepped in, and instead of water, there was tall waving grass that closed above his head as he followed them.
They went only a short distance and came to a cave of rock close under Ugunyi, the Cherokee name for Tal- lulah Falls. The women entered, while the warrior stood at the mouth, but they said, "This is our house;
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come in, our brother will soon be at home; he is coming now." They heard low thunder in the distance. He went inside and stood up close to the entrance. Then the women took off their long hair and hung it up on a rock, and both their heads were as smooth as pump- kins. The man thought, "It is not hair at all," and he was more frightened than ever.
The younger woman, the one he was about to marry, then sat down and told him to take a seat beside her. He looked, and it was a large turtle on which she sat, and it raised itself up and stretched out its claws, as if angry at being disturbed. The youth refused to sit down, insisting that it was a turtle, but the woman again as- sured him that it was a seat. Then there was a louder roll of thunder, and the woman said, "Now our brother is nearly home." While he still refused to come nearer or sit down, suddenly there was a great thunder clap just behind him, and turning quickly he saw a man stand- ing in the doorway of the cave.
"This is my brother," said the woman, and he came in and sat down upon the turtle, which again rose up and stretched out its claws. The young warrior still refused to come in. The brother then said that he was just about to start to a council, and invited the young man to go with him. The hunter said he was willing to go, if only he had a horse; so the young woman was told to bring one. She went out and soon came back, leading a great uktena snake, that curled and twisted along the whole length of the cave. Some people say that it was a white uktena and that the brother himself rode a red one. The hunter was terribly frightened and said, "That is a snake; I cannot ride that." The others insisted that it was not a snake, but their riding horse. The brother grew impatient and said to the woman, "He may like it better if you bring him a saddle and some bracelets for his wrists and arms." So they went out again and brought in a saddle and some arm bands, and the saddle was another turtle, which they fastened on
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the uktena's back, and the bracelets were living slimy snakes, which they made ready to twist around the hunter's wrists.
He was almost dead with fear, and said, "What kind of horrible place is this? I can never stay here to. live with snakes and creeping things." The brother became very angry and called him a coward, and then it was as if lightning flashed from his eyes and struck the young man, and a terrific crash of thunder stretched him sense- less.
When at last he came to himself again, he was stand- ing with his feet in the water and both hands grasping a laurel bush that grew out from the bank, and there was no trace of the cave or the Thunder People, but he was alone in the forest. He made his way out and finally reached his own settlement, but found that he had been gone so long that all the people thought him dead, al- though to him it seemed only the day after the dance. His friends questioned him closely, and, forgetting the warning, he told the story: but in seven days he died, for no one can come back from the underworld and tell it and live .*
A Tragedy of the Swamp
Over in what is known as the "Fork"-in the angle which Brier Creek makes with the Savannah River-a number of curious relics have been discovered from time to time of the race who here lived and roamed the woods before the bold Genoese navigator found a new world in the West. On this particular spot there must have stood an important settlement or village, for number- less have been the weapons of war and the utensils for domestic use which have been here found. Indeed, it was the logical site for the red man's camp. The Savan-
*James Mooney, in Myths of the Cherokee, House Documents, Vol. 118.
.
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nah River, on one side, and Brier Creek, on the other, abounded in the finest fish, while the dense swamp which extends for miles over this region of country was full of game. It is well within the bounds of fair inference to assume that there was here an Indian village which was even more important than the one which overlooked the river from the high bluff at Yamacraw, where Sa- vannah is today situated.
Deep in the labyrinths of this swamp there may be seen, among other things, what is said to be an old In- dian well. As far back as the oldest inhabitant's grand- sire can recollect, this hole has been here, and here it still remains. It was evidently dug to be used as a well -for what other purpose could it serve in this remote part of the swamp? But late researches have made it quite certain that this deep hole was not dug by the In- dians. It was not the habit of the red man to dig wells, when springs and streams were near at hand.
In the immediate neighborhood of this well there for- merly stood a large mound, some fifteen feet in length, supposed by those who observed it here for years to have been the last resting place of some Indian warrior. This lonely part of the swamp is nearly two miles di- rectly east of the old Saxon place-an unfrequented lo- cality ; but not long ago, three young men of Sylvania, interested in antiquities, made a trip into this quarter for purposes of investigation. They found that on top of the mound a pine tree had taken root and had grown to be a forest giant, perhaps a hundred years old, its roots spreading in all directions over the supposed tomb. Of course, there is no way of telling how much further back the mound itself dated, but the evidence furnished by the tree suffices to fix the minimum age limit.
Though somewhat disappointed in failing to find the bones of an Indian chief, they unearthed what was still more startling-the remains of a small cabin or struct- ure of some kind, which had been burned; and it was the ruins of this structure which formed the mound. It was
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evidently an abode of primitive character, for what re- mained of the charred poles showed that they had simply been stuck in the ground; but they were probably brought together in wigwam fashion and covered with some kind of bark. The fact that it was once a human habitation was confirmed by the discovery of small pieces of timber which seemed to have been carefully cut and by numerous fragments of domestic pottery which were unearthed from the ruins.
Bringing the historic imagination constructively to bear upon these disclosures it became evident to the in- vestigators that a tragedy of some kind had taken place here in the swamp-it may have been two centuries ago. The place was destroyed by fire; but whether it was due to accident or to murderous intent there was nothing to indicate. In the light cast upon the problem by the bits of pottery, the lone inhabitant of this primitive abode could not have been an Indian. This rude hut in the swamp was not the work of a red man. It evinced the skill of a hand accustomed to better structures than the savage home-maker knew how to build.
Who, then, was the mysterious occupant ?
Let us go back. After the pious Salzburgers came and settled at old Ebenezer, on the Savannah River, some thirty miles below this place, in the year 1733, there was a story told by the Indians of a Lone Hunter-a pale face-who lived in a swamp higher up the river and who was seen only at intervals by the Indians. This man was a mighty hunter, skilled in the use of the rifle; and he sometimes came to the Indian village to exchange game for corn. He dressed in cloths made of the furs of ani- mals which he had slain and he learned to speak a few words of the Indian tongue, so that he could communicate with the natives. But the Indians managed to make the Salzburgers understand that he was not of the same race
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with the new comers at Ebenezer, nor with the pale face settlers at Savannah. From the accounts given by the red men it is clearly evident that he was a Spanish sol- dier-a member of the bold but cruel race which played so prominent a part in the early explorations and con- quests of the new world and whose memorials on the continent of North America have not been obliterated by two centuries of Anglo-Saxon domination.
It was during this period that the Spaniards, who were then in possession of Florida, made frequent in- cursions into Georgia and South Carolina ; and perchance the Lone Hunter may have been a Cavalier, who, wearied and sick, had fallen by the wayside, where he was left to die. Or, he may voluntarily have deserted his com- rades for this lonely life in the swamp. Here, in this secluded spot, not far from the Indian village, where sup- plies could be obtained when needed, he had doubtless, with the implements usually carried by the Spanish sol- dier, fashioned the small timbers for his house and built his wigwam cabin. Here, too, with the pick, which he was in the habit of carrying on his back, when on the march, he patiently dug the well that he might be constantly supplied with water.
How long he lived here is only a matter of vague speculation, but there is every reason to believe that he perished with his home, which some enemy must have fired-perhaps some skulking Indian from the village who had looked with envious eyes upon the Lone Hun- ter's sword and rifle. We can almost see him stealthily approaching the little cabin, stopping ever and anon be- hind some large tree to reconnoiter-then creeping slowly onward again. From the top of the Hunter's hut rises a thin line of smoke, for he is cooking some beaten corn, which he has purchased from the Indians and on the coals he is broiling a steak, cut from the deer which fell before his rifle on yester eve. Reaching the door, with the noiseless tread of a panther, the savage springs upon his unprepared victim-then a fierce struggle en-
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