the people should have suffered great
extremity if it had not been so" ( Elvas). This in itself is evidence that the place
was pretty far to the south, as it was yet only the first week in June. The, town was
subject to the chief of the great province of Coca, farther to the west. From here
onward they began to meet palisaded towns.
On the theory that the march was down Coosa river, every commentator hitherto
has located Chiaha at some point upon this stream, either in Alabama or Georgia.
Gallatin (1836) says that it "must have been on the Coosa, probably some distance
below tin- site of New Echota." He notesa similarity of sound between Ichiaha and
"Echoy." (Itseyl), a Cherokee town name. Williams (1837) says that it was on
Mobile (i. e., the Alabamaor lower Coosa river). Meek (1839) says "there can be
little doubt that Chiaha was situated but a short distance above the junction of the
Coosa and Chattooga rivers," i. e., not far within the Alabama line. He notes the
occurrence of a "Chiaha" (Chehawhaw) creek near Talladega, Alabama. In regard
to the island upon which the town was said to have been situated he says: "There
is no such island now in the Coosa. It is probable that the Spaniards either mistook
the peninsula formed by the junction of two rivers, the Coosa and Chattooga, for an
island, or that those two rivers were originally united so as to form an island near
their present confluence. We have heard this latter supposition asserted by per-
sons well acquainted with the country." — Romantic Passages, p. 222,