Description
The Surruque people lived along the middle Atlantic coast of Florida during the 16th and 17th centuries. The Surruque became clients of the Spanish government in St. Augustine, but were not successfully brought into the Spanish mission system. The French, in their brief occupation of northeastern Florida around Fort Caroline, reported hearing of a place named Sorrochos or Serropé, said to be next to a large lake of the same name, which they placed in the interior of southern Florida. Swanton states that location is much too far to the south and east, and understood the "large lake" to be one of the lagoons near Cape Canaveral.
Language
Timucua
Culture
The Mayaca, Jororo and Surruque existed by fishing, gathering shellfish and native plants, and by hunting wildlife. Fish, shellfish, turtle and whitetail deer were among their mainstays. Some Timucuan people combined hunting activities with farming--primarily in the northern third of Florida. They used acorns and hickory nuts to produce cooking oil and a kind of flour. An aquatic root called ache from the swamps yielded a starch that was important in the Timucuan diet. People regularly consumed palm berries and blueberries. The Timucua used a rack in some of their cooking to smoke and dry meat and other foods. They roasted or cured alligator, eel, raccoon, rabbit, bear, skunk, squirrel and more.