Note 8 — Group I. THREE RIVAL CIVILIZATIONS.

That Fatal March. The one clew to the route De Soto took in his wanderings up and down what are now the Gulf States, is found in the names of various Indian nations whose countries he traversed. Thus the names Apalache, Coça (Coosa), Tuscaluca (Tuscaloosa), and Chicaça (Chicasaw) are so many landmarks. But no precise data remain from which to lay down, with reasonable accuracy, a journey which extended over at least eight or ten states, covered thousands of miles, and occupied years in making. De Soto's crossing place is placed on Pownall's (Eng.) official map of 1755 at or near Osier Point, on the east bank, now corresponding with the north-west corner of the State of Mississippi and De Soto County. On a map of 1775, it is fixed on the thirty-fourth parallel, some distance below the ancient village of the Arkansas, or "Handsome Men."