Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
revisit the fort as a lieutenant in the provincial militia, when this intelligence from his earlier
reconnoitre was no doubt very useful.
This map with its surrounding pictures showing details of Creek life was probably drawn
while Bonar was in Creek hands. The central sketch map has west at the top, and shows the
heartland of the Creek Indians (to the south of those of the Cherokee), between the Coosa
River and the Chattahoochee River, with the Mobile River at left leading off towards the
ocean. There is detail of the many named creeks off these rivers. The map shows the division
of peoples among Upper Creeks and Lower Creeks, according to whether they used Lower,
Middle or Upper Trading Paths to connect them with South Carolina, indicated by dotted
lines at the right of the map.
The drawings around the map offer a glimpse of some of the Creek people. Flanking the
title, a male elder smoking a pipe faces a female elder. At lower right is a scene with a woman
wearing a long dress and with ribbons in her hair, and a warrior carrying his spear, gun and
bow, a quiver of arrows over his shoulder. More weapons are drawn at top right: tomahawks,
clubs, swords, lances and guns, along with a drum. At top left is a 'hott house', which was
a winter meeting house. Below it is the public square, a ceremonial and social space where
meetings were held outdoors in the summer. The picture below shows a games field where
'chunkey' was played, using special sticks shown crossed on the ground to point out the play-
er's guess as to where a disc would land. While the map is a useful indicator of the state of
English knowledge of this area at that time, the drawings around it give us a rare and vivid
picture of life in a native American village, as seen through an English colonist's eyes.
