east side of the Carolinian River the course of which has not yet been ascertained, but there is very good reason to suppose that it runs a south course into the Rio Amasura; 8 miles from Nuvoalla is Alochua; and in 8 miles more we come to Jurla Noca.

"All these places were formerly the ancient settlements of the Atimucas Indians who were driven from them by the English from Carolina in 1706 and have fixed their settlement on an island to the east of the Rio de St. Juan, about 56 miles S.W. of St. Augustine and call their chief settlement Pueblo de Atimucas.

"Twenty-six miles from Jurla Noca we come to a Spanish settlement on the banks of the Rio de St. Juan. Though the river here is only two miles broad, yet it is 8 miles over that and two islands to Fort Picolata, which is the last stage and is 30 miles distant from Fort Augustine. This road is 188 miles from St. Marks."

Of all the landmarks named by Roberts, only Picolata survives as a village on the St. Johns River. We last find the old Spanish designations on a map drawn in 1763 for "Gentleman's Magazine" of London.

The Camino Real was surveyed and carefully mapped in 1778 by Joseph Purcell after the first cession of Florida to England, and while the English colonists to the north were fighting a war for independence.

From a report by Bishop Gabriel Diaz Vera Calderon -- who came to this area of Florida from Santiago, Cuba, in 1674 -- we learn that the mission of San Francisco de Potano was about five miles south of the Camino Real. It probably was the "lower store" near present day Gainesville.

INDIAN TRAILS

John Lee Williams, a surveyor appointed to help pick a new state capital in "middle Florida" in 1823, gives us a description of the Pensacola- St. Augustine Road after it was well established. It appears that the trail at this time incorporated the Timucua path through Apalache country and the Camino Real through east Florida:

"Great roads were the first objects which caught the attention of a traveler while this country was yet uninhabited. Bertram, the younger, mentions in his `Tour and Remarks' that they would be conspicuous for a hundred years to come. Three years ago they might be easily traced on both sides of the Ocklockney River for 50 miles nearly in a straight line east and west. The prominent ridges which they crossed were dug down,

and causeways were constructed over the swamps.

"The principal highway running through the site, which is now the seat of government (Tallahassee), was often crossed at right angles by other roads. Near Tallahassee these were very frequent. At a little distance southeast of the town, however, the minor roads crossed at very acute angles. It is remarkable that although the Indian paths often cross this great road, they never follow it; but wind away from it with religious caution."

A map by Williams in 1827 shows two trails west from St. Augustine. A northern route matches well the Moll presentation -- going by the "King's Road" to Jacksonville, west to White Springs, then across the Suwannee, Alapaha and Georgia Withlacoochee rivers.

A southern route from St. Augustine threaded its way over the "Natural Bridge" of the Santa Fe River and crossed the Suwannee River at a place south of Dowling Park called Charles Ferry. Thereafter travelers could turn north to join the Timucua trail into Tallahassee, or stay on the southern Camino Real to Palaxy Fort.

We do not know if the Camino Real was sufficiently established in Soto's time to induce him to swing westward upon intersecting it. If he continued north he shortly would have come to the Timucua trail where high banks at White Springs match the description of the River of Discords.

SEMINOLE WAR MAPS

Williams provided the first, good representation of the principal Indian trails. These are largely confirmed and expanded in a series of maps produced by the U.S. Army during, and immediately following, the Seminole Wars of 1835-42.

This was well before general settlement of the interior of Florida by whites. Yet, it was a century after the tribes of Soto's era had been replaced by the Seminoles.

The earliest of these war maps was prepared in 1838 and shows that the upper half of the Florida peninsula was heavily populated. A network of trails provided convenient communication.

The area between a trail linking Tampa Bay and Lake Kissimmee, and a path paralleling the Caloosahatchee River, consisted of a great plain. Here, the north-south trade routes held closely to the Peace and Kissimmee rivers. Interestingly both routes break off at Big Cypress Swamp, now known as the Green Swamp, but converge on the other side at Micanopy (Place of the Chief).