H>t. Augustine Snstitute of Science
nnl)
historical Society 280 st. oeor3e st.
g>t. gfaguKtiue	st.Augustine,Florida
Jfloriba	April I4,I9h6
Mr.Harral B. Ayres	*•
Managing Director Gunter Hotel San Antonio .Texas.
My dear Mr.Ayres,
In " A Descriptive List of Maps of the Spanish Possessions witnin the present limits of the United States"by Woodbury Lov/ery in the report of Arredondo 1737? page 272 you will find the information „ou want regarding the Spanisn trails in St.John’s County. Menendez in attaching Fort Carolina tool-: the most direct trail to that fort and the Dixie Highway is probably nearest to it as it is the road built b,/ the English over the old route when they did not go by water.
In "The Cannibles of Florida or Gods Protecting Providence" written by Jona.th.an Dickenson 1696 you v/ill see tiiat the Spaniards at that date used the water route extensively and that book is the oldest account we have in English of travelling on the East Coast of Florida.There is a copy in the Library of Congress and we also have one in English,also in Dutch. Arredondo mentions the(of the place used by Palma in the year 1728)route used by Palmer when he came to besiege St.Augustine also "Further up tne river .about six leagues from the aforesaid ravines,there is a narrow road called San Nicolas,and a similar one s&ilitdfurtlier up called San Geronimo, both of which are ordinarily used by the Indians,infidels,and enemies ,to come, without anyone being able to prevent it,as it is every day experienced- "Further to the south ,southwest,at about eighteen leagues from the mouth of the bar ,anu at about eight from the city of San Agustin,on each side of the river, there is a sentry box built ox boards,eight feet in diameter named respectively Pupe and Picolata,both of them surrounded by a palisade .very small and light -I saw them myself ,and I can vouch that
they are ready to crumble down"etc------------- "There	are also two Swivel
guns which are used to protect the couriers and the passengers who go and come Erom Apalache by land (as it can be seen on the plan) while they cross tne river from one side to the otherpn piroques.as they are often harassed by tne Indians while	in the act	of crossing-" That	large map	of
Arredondo I think shows these Indian	roads as mentioned	.The stone fort
at Picolata and that at Matanzas must have been built after this date.
In Lowery's "Spanish Settlements in the United States" second vol. there is an account of Menendez	expedition	as far as he could	go up the	St.John
River page 257 and pages	294 to 297	Pardo's second expedition to	St.
Helena and over to the Chotaw territory ri>£ Tuscaloosa in Alabama.see also vol.I pages 60,61 so it was possible for tne Franciscans to have gone to those regions . Lov/ery does not write much of the Franciscans his work is valuable where he quotes from original sources but he uses and quotes from many histories that are not correct his account of the landing of Ponce is incorrect:none of tne flowers he describes are in bloom in early April and I cannot find any evidence that he ever v/as in Florida. Tne Historical