lly saw Choctaw and Cherokee traders, and learned
much from them. I had no particular object in view at that
time, except the gratification of a curiosity, which led me,
for my own satisfaction alone, to learn something of the
early history of Alabama.

"In relation to the invasion of Alabama by De Soto, which is
related in the first chapter of this work, I have derived
much information in regard to the route of that earliest
discoverer, from statements of General McGillivray, a Creek
of mixed blood, who ruled this country, with eminent
ability, from 1776 to 1793. I have perused the manuscript
history of the Creeks, by Stiggins, a half-breed, who also
received some particulars of the route of De Soto, during
his boyhood, from the lips of the oldest Indians. My library
contains many old Spanish and French maps, with the towns
through which De Soto passed, correctly laid down. The sites
of many of these are familiar to the present population.
Besides all these, I have procured from England and France
three journals of De Soto's expedition.

"One of these journals was written by a cavalier of the
expedition, who was a native of Elvas, in Portugal. He
finished his narrative on the 10th February, 1557, in the
city of Evora, and it was printed in the house of Andrew de
Burgos, printer and gentleman of the Lord Cardinal and the
Infanta. It was translated into English, by Richard Hakluyt,
in 1609, and is to be found in the supplementary volume of
his voyages and discoveries; London: 1812. It is also
published at length in the Historical Collections of Peter
Force, of Washington city.

"Another journal of the expedition was written by the Inca
Garcellasso de la Vega, a Peruvian by birth, and a native of
the city of Cusco. His father was a Spaniard of noble blood,
and his mother the sister of Capac, one of the Indian
sovereigns of Peru. Garcellasso was a distinguished writer
of that age. He had heard of the remarkable invasion of
Florida by De Soto, and he applied himself diligently to
obtain the facts. He found out an intelligent cavalier of
that expedition, with whom he had minute conversations of
all the particulars of it. In addition to this, journals
were placed in his hands, written in the camp of De
Soto--one by Alonzo d