shew the Indians how expert they were at the use of arms, he frequently
exercised them; and as they had been trained beforehand by the serjeants
of the guards in London, they performed their various parts in a manner
little inferior to regular troops.

[Sidenote] He treats with Indians for a share of their lands.

Having thus put his colony in as good a situation as possible, the next
object of his attention was to treat with the Indians for a share of
their possessions. The principal tribes that at this time occupied the
territory were the Upper and Lower Creeks; the former were numerous and
strong, the latter, by diseases and war, had been reduced to a smaller
number: both tribes together were computed to amount to about twenty-five
thousand, men, women and children. Those Indians, according to a treaty
formerly made with Governor Nicolson, laid claim to the lands lying
south-west of Savanna river, and, to procure their friendship for this
infant colony, was an object of the highest consequence. But as the tribe
of Indians settled at Yamacraw was inconsiderable, Oglethorpe judged it
necessary to have the other tribes also to join with them in the treaty.
To accomplish this union he found an Indian woman named Mary, who had
married a trader from Carolina, and who could speak both the English and
Creek languages; and perceiving that she had great influence among
Indians, and might be made useful as an interpreter in forming treaties
of alliance with them; he therefore first purchased her friendship with
presents, and afterwards settled an hundred pounds yearly on her, as a
reward for her services. By her assistance he summoned a general meeting
of the chiefs, to hold a congress with him at Savanna, in order to
procure their consent to the peaceable settlement of his colony. At this
congress fifty chieftains were present, when Oglethorpe represented to
them the great power, wisdom and wealth of the English nation, and the