(Source of picture: Florida State Archives)

This picture shows Timucua men searching for gold in a river.  It may've been drawn by the French artist Jacques LeMoyne.  Simply put, this depiction was based on wishful thinking.

Denizens of the First Coast might have obtained some gold from trading with other Indians.  However, Florida couldn't boast of any gold deposits, much to the chagrin of the early Spanish & French.  During the 1560s, the French established Fort Caroline on the St. Johns River, between the ocean and downtown Jacksonville.  Instead of fully developing their colony, they foolishly spent much of their time searching for gold.  They wanted to strike it rich, just as the Spanish had already done with the Aztecs in Mexico.

In the picture, notice how the men wear their hair in buns.  This made the Timucua males seem even taller to the Europeans.

PICTURING THE TIMUCUA -- Many of the Timucua pictures in this website were created by the French artist Jacques LeMoyne.  He was a lucky man, for he barely escaped the Spanish burning of Fort Caroline in 1564.  LeMoyne survived by swimming across a marsh to a ship in the St. Johns River. 

LeMoyne drew some of his pictures from things he witnessed, and others from stories he heard.  After LeMoyne's death, some of his depictions were embellished.  Others that are credited to him might have been redrawn or even made up entirely from scratch.  This was the handiwork of Theodore DeBry, who included the engravings in a best-selling book that he published in 1591.