Frank Cushing, who made a celebrated survey of Calusa sites in 1895, estimated there were 40 "gigantic" mounds and an equal number of lesser ones in the complex of Charlotte Harbor, Pine Island Sound, Caloosahatchee River entrance and Matlatcha Pass. Particularly important ones were located on Pine, Sanibel, Josslyn, Galt, Useppa, Captiva, Estero, Mound, Gasparilla and the other outer islands. He believed there were "many others" yet to be discovered.

Jordan holds that the principal Calusa town was at Pineland, where Cushing described nine great mounds. Five of the mounds remain and serve as sites for modern homes. An ancient, 30-foot-wide canal -- still visible, though dry -- led inland to two artificial lakes. In the center of each was a huge mound apparently reserved for burials or ceremony.

Cushing visited and measured the first moated mound and recorded it as 375 feet long, 150 feet wide at the base and 58 feet high. A spiral walkway ran to the top. The second lake mound, with a double crest, had a height of 63 feet. These mounds now stand on private property.

The south end of Pine Island, now St. James City, is a more strategic location inasmuch as it commands the approaches to all parts of the Calusa domain. Cushing records extensive earth-works here, though greatly reduced for road ballast and fill since St. James City was laid out ten years before his visit. Galt Island has a large mound surrounded by a ring mound -- an unusual design denoting the house of an important chief.

Until future archeological excavations perhaps solves the matter, Pineland, Useppa and St. James City must share the distinction of being the Calusa capital in Ponce de Leon's day.

Speculation about the Calusa capital perhaps will always remain moot because the cacique habitually moved about his territory as the seasons and affairs of state demanded. His head-quarters could have been any one of a score of important Calusa sites at any particular time. Thus, the Ponce and Menendez clues are not congruous.

THE FREDUCCI MAP

Herrera's account of Ponce's first voyage of discovery matches well an interesting world map prepared for Count Ottomano Freducci of Florence in 1515. The chart is the first to use the name Florida -- misspelled Florda -- bestowed by Ponce. It appears to draw from the same original sources used by Herrera.

Freducci latitudes are completely inaccurate for the western hemisphere, being off by approximately 14 degrees. Perhaps the cartographer was influenced by La Cosa's error. However, the names on the Freducci map relate closely to those ascribed by Ponce.

The northernmost landmark is Rio de Canoas, or Canoe River. This name also was given years later to a stream on the Gulf coast. It connotes a shallow river suitable for Indian dugouts. Some investigators identify Canoas as Matanzas Inlet south of St. Augustine.

The next name south is Chantio, seemingly the Chircora which Herrera said was the name given to Florida by the Indians.

Ponta d'Arcifes (Point of Reefs) shown on the Freducci map was similarly named by Herrera. Nonetheless, it very soon thereafter acquired the name Cabo Canaveral, or Cape of Canes, the oldest named landmark in the United States.

The River of the Cross is not designated, but its size is exaggerated as was customary for important landmarks. The three-branch configuration suggests St. Lucie's "wide kind of bay" transversed by the north and south arms of Indian River.

The Cabo de Setos (Cape of Pales, or fence stakes) of Freducci may have referred to fish weirs or to a stockade visible on shore. Setos of the map is the easternmost point of Florida, as is Palm Beach. This equates to Herrera's Cape of Currents.

The cape at Palm Beach is not named on maps again until the eighteenth century when it shows up briefly as Punta Jega, after the Indians of that name then living there. U.S. War Department maps assign no name to the cape. An 1857 copy merely calls attention to "Old Indian Fields."

Both our informants place an important town immediately south. Freducci gives Abacoa and Herrera says Abaioa. We could speculate that Freducci was a trifle off with his longitude and that Setos was really what later maps may have corrupted to Rio Ciego (Blind River) or Rio Seco (Dry River) -- today's Hillsboro River Inlet between Boca Raton and Pompano Beach.

If this is so, then Abacoa is certainly New River Inlet next south. It is more likely that Setos was the cape at Palm Beach, a topographical feature always carefully noted by sailors. In this case, association of Abacoa and New River Inlet rests on the inferential evidence previously noted.

Freducci doesn't list a Santa Marta where Herrera says Ponce stopped to get water. The map