The Hitchiti, Mikasuki and Apalachi languages form a dialectic group distinct from Creek and the western dialects, and the people speaking them must once have had a common origin. The proper names Apalachi and Apalatchúkli are now extinct as tribal names, but are of very ancient date. The auriferous ledges of the Cheroki country were said to be within "the extreme confines of the Apalachi province" (Fontanedo, 1559), and the Apalachi found by Narvaez was fifteen days' march north of Aute,[49] a roadstead or harbor on the Gulf of Mexico, though the Indians had stated to him that it lay at a distance of nine days' travel only. The "province" of Apalachi probably included the upper part or the whole of the Chatahuchi river basin, and on account of the ending -okla in Apalatchúkla, its origin must be sought in the Cha'hta or Hitchiti dialect. Rev. Byington explains it by _helping people_, _allies_, in the Cha'hta apălătchi ókla, but the original form of the name is Apala�tchi ókli, not apálatchi; -�tchi is a Hitchiti suffix of adjectives, and apálui in that dialect means "_on the other side of_." Hence the adjective apála�tchi: "those (_people_ ókli) on the other side, shore or river."