George Bancroft, History of the United States from the Discovery of the American Continent, Vol. 3, 15th edition.

[250] continent,—where the grass is verdant in midwinter;

Chap XXII.}

the blue-bird and the robin are heard in February; the springs of pure water gurgle up through the white sands, to flow through natural bowers of evergreen holly; and, if the earth be but carelessly gashed to receive the kernel of maize, the thick corn springs abundantly from the fertile soil. The region is as happy as any beneath the sun; and the love which it inspired made its occupants, though not numerous, yet the most intrepid warriors of the south. Below the Chickasas, between the Mississippi and the Tombecbee, was the land of the Choctas, who were gathered, on the eastern frontier, into compact villages, but elsewhere were scattered through the interior of their territory. Dwelling in plains or among gentle hills, they excelled every North American tribe in their agriculture,—subsisting chiefly on corn, and placing little dependence on the chase. Their country was healthful, abounding in brooks. The number of their warriors perhaps exceeded four thousand. Their dialect of the Mobilian so nearly resembles that of the Chickasas, that they almost seemed but one nation. The Choctas were allies of the French, yet preserving their independence: their love for their country was intense, and, in defending it, they utterly contemned danger.

The ridge that divided the Tombecbee from the Alabama, was the line that separated the Choctas from the groups of tribes which were soon united in the confederacy of the Creeks or Muskhogees. Their territory, including all Florida, reached, on the north, to the Cherokees; on the north-east and east, to the country on the Savannah and to the Atlantic. Along

Roberts' Florida, 13.

the sea, their northern limit seems to have extended