A SERIES OF SKETCHES, PICTURESQUE AND HISTORICAL, OF THECOLONIES OF COLIGNI, IN NORTH AMERICA.
1562–1570.
BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE YEMASSEE,” “LIFE OF MARION,”“LIFE OF BAYARD” ETC.
NEW YORK:
BAKER AND SCRIBNER,
145 NASSAU STREET AND 36 PARK ROW.
1850.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, by
W. GILMORE SIMMS, ESQ.
In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the SouthernDistrict of New York.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
C. W. BENEDICT,
Stereotyper,
201 William st.
TO THE
HON. JAMES H. HAMMOND,
OF
SOUTH CAROLINA.
MY DEAR HAMMOND:
I very well know the deep interest which you take in allresearches which aim to develope the early history of our Stateand country, and sympathize with you very sincerely in that localfeeling which delights to trace, on your own grounds, and in yourown neighborhood, the doubtful progresses of French andSpaniard, in their wild passion for adventure or eager appetite forgold. I have no doubt that the clues are in your hands whichshall hereafter conduct you along a portion of the route pursuedby that famous cavalier, Hernando de Soto; and I am almostsatisfied that the region of Silver Bluff was that distinguished inthe adventures of the Spanish Adelantado, by the presence of thatdusky but lovely princess of Cofachiqui, who welcomed him withso much favor and whom he treated with an ingratitude asunhandsome as unknightly. But I must not dwell on a subjectgo seductive; particularly, as I entertain the hope, in some futurelabor, to weave her legend into an appropriate, and I trust notunworthy history. For the present, inscribing these pages to you,as a memorial of a long and grateful intimacy, and of inquiriesand conjectures, musings and meditations, enjoyed together, which,it is my hope, have resulted no less profitably to you than tomyself, I propose briefly to give you the plan of the volume inyour hands.
The design of the narrative which follows, contemplates, innearly equal degree, the picturesque and the historical. Itbelongs to a class of writings with which the world has been longsince made familiar, through a collection of the greatest interest,the body of which continues to expand, and which has beenentitled the “Romance of History.” This name will justly applyto the present sketches, yet must not be construed to signify anylarge or important departure, in the narrative, from the absoluterecords of the Past. The romance here is not suffered to supersedethe history. On the contrary, the design of the writer hasbeen simply to supply the deficiencies of the record. Where theauthor, in this species of writing, has employed history, usually,as a mere loop, upon which to hang his lively fancies and audaciousinventions, embodying in his narrative as small a portion ofthe chronicle as possible, I have been content to reverse theprocess, making the fiction simply tributary, and always subordinateto the fact. I have been studious to preserve all the vitaldetails of the event, as embodied in the record, and have onlyventured my own “graffings” upon it in those portio