ago, and the whole is filled up and now used as a cornfield. The island
remains can be traced now, I think, for a length of half a mile, with a possible
extreme width of 300 feet. . . . This whole country, on both sides of the river,
is full of Indian lore. I have mentioned both mounds simply to indicate that this
portion of the river was an Indian locality, and have also stated the facts about the
remains of Jennies island in order to give a possible clew to a professional who might
study the ground." — Letter, April 22, 1900.
Chiaha was the first town of the " province of Coca," the territory of the Coosa or
Creek Indians. The next town mentioned, Coste (Elvas and Ranjel), Costehe
(Bieilma) or A coste (Garcilaso),was Kasi'ta, or Cusseta, as it was afterward known
to the whites. While Garcilaso puts it at the lower end of the same island upon
which Chiaha was situated, the Elvas narrative makes it seven days distant! The
modern towns of Chehaw and Cusseta were within a few miles of each other on the
Chattahoochee, the former being on the western or Alabama side, while Cusseta, in
1799, was on the east or Georgia side about eight miles below the falls at Columbus,
and in Chattahoochee county, which has given its capital the same name, Cusseta.
From the general tone of the narrative it is evident that the two towns were near
together in De Soto's time, and it may be that the Elvas chronicle confounded Kasi'ta
with Koasati, a principal Upper Creek town, a short distance