the name Pojoy was given to all of Tampa Bay, and that at the same time De Soto made Tocobaga his headquarters, but this is improbable.

The only argument in favor of a placement of the Port of Espiritu far up in Tampa Bay, besides those which have been considered -- and, we may add, the only really formidable one -- is furnished by the letter of De Soto.

The Spanish as it stands does not say that the bay runs up "a dozen leagues or more from the sea" -- as the commonly used Buckingham Smith translation has it -- but "a dozen leagues or more to, or into, the sea" which is a very different thing. Moreover, the word used here for "bay" is not bahia or baya, the word applied to a large bay and that which Biedma employs in the term Baya Honda, but "ancon." An ancon is defined by the Dictionary of the Spanish Academy as an "ensenada pequena en que se puede fondear," or "a small bay, or roadstead, in which one can anchor." The full extent of Tampa Bay is not exactly an ensenada pequena. The word ancon is used again only by Ranjel who applies it to what was evidently only a part of the bay, a pocket in the side of it.

Assumption that De Soto's twelve leagues are actually given as the entire length of the bay would involve us in another difficulty. On the supposition -- for we assume the suggestion of the site in Old Tampa Bay eliminated -- the Port of the Holy Spirit would be about the mouth of Alafia River. It could not well have been farther up the bay because Hillsboro River is the last in that direction that could be identified with the River of Mococo.

This brings us to a consideration of the site which we regard as the most probable location of Bay of the Holy Spirit.

Since Soto entered Tampa Bay from the south, since the channel had to be indicated by stationing a vessel at each side, and since two of his ships touched bottom on the way in, it is a fair assumption that he came in either through Passage Key Inlet or Southwest Channel. Furthermore, since the ships sometimes scraped bottom it is also a fair assumption that they did not keep on north into the main channel but remained in the shoal water along the south side of the bay.

The presence of this shoal water and the wording of the De Soto narratives themselves make us believe that the explorers were not sailing up Tam-pa Bay toward its head but working into the mouth of the harbor. They were gradually drawing near a town on the south side of the bay which Anasco

had previously selected as a base. This is the natural significance of De Soto's own words when he speaks of "entering the mouth of the port."

Now let us consider the location of the town named by Elvas as Ucita and whose chief is called Ucita by Elvas and Ocita by Ranjel.

In the southern part of Terra Ceia Island, and between Terra Ceia Bay and McGill Bay, is an old and noteworthy Indian town site with a number of low mounds -- one about 20 feet in elevation. Formerly there was another of similar height. This is also one of the garden spots along the bay. West and southwest of it the water is very shoal; though at one place, not far off, depths of 12 and 13 feet at mean low water are registered.

To vessels entering along the south shore, Shaw Point is the most readily accessible landing place. There is a channel running up in front of it. Though not deep enough to carry De Soto's ships, it would be the natural point at which to land troops and horses by means of the pinnaces on ac-count of its nearness, height, excellent beach and deeper water.

An army landing here, however, and desiring to reach the village on Terra Ceia would be obliged to march 25 miles inland to get around the lower reaches of Manatee River. Having accomplished this, it would, on turning back west, and unless it kept well to the north, come out on Terra Ceia Bay on the other side of which was the village. While Terra Ceia Bay would not be navigable for the ships, the pinnaces and possibly the caravels, could have entered it.

If the reader will now place a chart before him and follow the course of events with this identification in mind, he will we think, hardly fail to be convinced of the strength of the argument and the correspondence of the details.

The Spanish fleet, known to have come in sight of land of the south side of the bay, is naturally assumed to have entered through one of the southernmost channels. Temporary grounding, as described, would certainly have been likely. They would then have approached the mouth of Terra Ceia Bay at the head of which lay the Indian town. The chronicler's statement that they grounded at times is supported by the shallowness of this part of Tampa Bay.

An anchorage four leagues back from the Terra Ceia town site would have placed them not far off Shaw Point. The high land of Shaw Point would naturally be chosen as a convenient landing