ANTIQUITIES SOUTHERN" GEORGIA TRIBES. BY CHARLES C. JOKES, JK. NEW YORK: D . A P P L E T O N A N 1) COMPANY 549 & 551 BROADWAY. 1873. CITAHI/ES C. JONES, JR., Ilio office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washm^to: THE STATE OF GEORGIA, THIS VOLUME IS Al'FKCTIONATELY IffSCRI OXE OF HER SONS PKEFA.CE. AI/THOTJGII the title intimates that our investiga tions have been directed principally to an examination of> the antiquities of a single State, the present work will be found to embrace within its scope a much more extended field of observation. In prosecuting the pro posed inquiries, it appeared both unnecessary and im proper narrowly to observe the boundary-lines which separate modern States. It will be remembered, more over, that the original grant from the British crown conveyed to the Trustees of the Colony of Georgia a territory greater by far than that now embraced with in the geographical limits accorded to her as a State. A striking similarity exists among the customs, uten sils, implements, and ornaments of all the Southern Indians : consequently, in elucidating the archeology of a region often occupied in turn by various tribes, it seemed appropriate to mention and contrast the antiquities of Virginia, the Carolinas, Florida, Ala bama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Our object lias been, from the earliest and most authentic sources of information at command, to con vey a correct impression of the location, character istics, form of government, social relations, manufac tures, domestic economy, diversions, and. customs of the Southern Indians, at the time of primal contact between them and the Europeans. This introducto ry part of the work is followed by an examination of tumuli, earthworks, and. various relics obtained from burial-mounds, gathered amid refuse-piles, found in an cient graves, and picked up in cultivated fields and on the sites of old villages and fishing-resorts. "When ever these could be interpreted in the light of early recorcled observations, or were capable of explanation by customs not obsolete at the dawn of the historic period, the authorities relied upon have been carefully noted. The accompanying plans of mounds were prepared from personal surveys, and nearly every typical object used in illustration may be seen in the author's collec tion. Most of these relics were obtained by me in situ. They are now figured for the first time. To the friends who have kindly aided me in gather ing together a cabinet which so fully and beautifully represents the arts and the manufactures of these primitive peoples, I here renew my cordial and gratefnl acknowledgments. Prepared at irregular intervals and in odd mo ments as they could be borrowed from the exacting and ever-recurring engagements of an active profes sional life, these pages, -with their manifest short comings, are offered in the hope that they will, at least in some degree, minister to the information and pleasure of those who are not incurious with regard to the subject of American archseology. KEW YOEK, April 10, 1873. C. JOKES, JR. CHATTER I. Location of Tribes.--Physical Characteristics of the Southern Indians.--System of Government.--The Mico,--The Bead War-Chief.--Public Buildings in a 1 Creek Village.--Mode of Warfare.--Office of High-Priest.--Sun-Worsbip.-- Offering of the Stag.--Idol-Worship.-^-Religious Ideas.--The SUTI among the AT ateljez,--The Cacica of Cutifacliiqiu.--Mausoleum of Titlomeco.--Tombs of the Virginia Kings, ...... PAGE 1 CHAPTEK II. OSes of the Conjurer or Medicine-man.--Treatment of the Sick.--Medicinal I'liints.--Towns and Private Houses.--Tenure of Property.--Agricultural Pursuits.--Town Plantations and Private Gardens.--Public Granaries.--Ani mal and Vegetable Food.--Mechanical Labors.--Early Mining inDuke's-Crec-k Valley.--Manufacture of Canoes, Pottery, Copper Implements, Gold, Slyer, Shell, and Stone Ornaments.--Various Implements and Articles of Stone, Rone, and Wood.--Trade Relations, ....'. 58 CHAPTER III. Hamate and Divorce.--Punishment of Adultery.--Costume and Ornaments.-- Skin-painting and Tattooing.--Manufacture of Carpets, Fcather-sbawla, and Moccasins.--Weaving, . . . . . . .65 CHAPTER IV. Music and Musical Instruments.--Dancing.--Game?. --Gambling.--Festivals.-- Divisions of the Tear.--Counting.--Funeral Customs, . . 90 COjSTTKNTS. CHAPTER V. General Observations on Mound-Building.--Bartram's Account of the Georgia Tumuli.--Absence of Mcgalithie Monuments and Animal-shaped Mounds.-- Distribution of the Ancient Population.--Few Sepulchral Mounds erected since the Advent of Europeans.--Antiquity of the Tumuli, . PAGE 118 CHAPTER VI. Mounds on the Etowah River.--Temple for Sun-worship.--Stone Images.--Fish- Preserves.--Tumuli in he Valley of Little Shoulder-bone Creek.--Circular Earthwork on the Head-waters of the Ogeechee.--Stone Tumulus near Sparta, --Mounds on the Savannah River.--Meeting between the Cacica of the Savan nah and De So to, , . , - , . .130 CHAPTER VII. CHAPTER VIII. Chunky-Yards.--Elevated Spaces.--Mounds of Observation and Retreat. --Tumuli on Woolfolk's Plantation.--Sepulchral Tumuli.--Chieftain-Mounds.--Custom of burying Personal Property with the Dead.--Savannah owes a Monument to Tomo-chi-chl.--Family or Tribal Mounds.--Cremation, . .118 CHAPTER IX. CHAPTER X. Stone Graves in Nacooehee Valley and elsewhere.--Copper Implements and the Use of that Metal among the Southern Indians.--Cane-Matting.--Shell Drinking-Cups,--Shell Pins.--Age of Stone Graves,--Evidence of Commerce among the Aborigines, . . . . . . .213 CHAPTER XI. CONTENTS. SI CHAPTER XII. Grooved Axes.--Hand and Wedge-shaped Axes or Celts.--Perforated and Orna mental or Ceremonial Axes.--Chisels.--Gouges.--Scrapers.--Flint Knives.-- Avis, or Borers.--Leaf-shaped Implements.--Smooth in g-Stones.--Drift-Im plements, ....... PAGK 269 GRAFTER XIII. Agriculture and Agricultural Implements.--Ceremony of the Busk.--Cultivation of Maize.--Mortars and Pestles.--Crushing-Stones.--Nut-Stones.--Use of Walnut and Hickory-nut OH, . . . . . . 296 CHAPTER XIV. . Fishing.--Wears.--Nets.--Net-sinkers.--Plummets, . . . 321 CHATTER XV. . Diseoidal Stones.--Chungke-Game, ...... 841 \ CHAPTER XVI. Stone Tubes, . . . . . . . . 850 CHAPTER XVII. Stones for rounding Arrow-shafts.--Whetstones or Sharpeners.--Pierced Tablets. --Pendants.--Slung-slones.--Amulets.--Stone Plats.--Mica Mirrors.--Sculp tured Bocks, ........ 360 CHAPTER XVIII. Pipes.--The Use of Tobacco.--Idol Pipes.--Calumets.--Common Pipes. . 883 CHAPTER XIX. Idol-Worship among the Southern Indians.--Stone and Tcrra-Cotta Images, 413 CHAPTER XX. Pottery, . . . - . . . . . 441 CHAPTER XXI. The Use of Pearls as Ornaments among the Southern Indian?, . . 46 Y CHAPTER XXII. Primitive Uses of Sheila.--Shell-Honey.--Shell Ornaments.--Personal Decorations. --Conclusion, ........ 495 F LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE I. (To face page WQ.} , Tumuli and Fish-Preserves in the Etowah Valley, Georgia, \ PLATE II. (To face page 144.) Figs. 1 and 2. Tumuli in the A7alley of Little Shoulder-bone Crock. 3. Enclosed Work. * 4. Circular Earthwork on the Head-waters of the Ogeechee. 5. Stone Tumulus near Sparta, Georgia. PJ.A.TE III. (To face page 152.) Tumuli on the Savannah Eiver, "below Augusta. PLATS IV-. (To face page 158.) Tumuli on the Ocmulgee River, opposite the City of Macon. PLATE IV., A. (To face page 160.) Fig. 1. Skull of a Creek Indian. 2 and 3. Two Views of the Skml of an Ancient Mound-builder. PLATE V. (To face page 1G8.) Mound on Messicr's Plantation, in Early County. PLATE VI. (To face page 224.) JRclics found in Stone Graves in N"acoochec Valley. Fig. 1. Cane Matting. 2-7. Copper Implements. 8 and 9. Shell Pins. 10. Soapstone Pin. 11 and 12. Stone Beads. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE VII. {To face page 252.) Figs. 1 arid 2. Large Flint Spear-heads. 8 and 5. Flint Daggers. 4. Serrated Flint Sword. PLATE VIII. (To face page 254.) Figs. 1-12. Typical Forms of Flint Spear-heads. PILATE IX. (To face page 25G.) Figs. 1-41. Typical Forms of Arrow-points. PLATE X. (To face page 274.) Figs. 1-7. Typical Forms of Grooved Stone Axes. 8, Stone Adze. PLATE XI. (To fate page 278.) Figs. 1-6. Typical Forms of Polished Sfc^ne Celts. PLATE XII. (7b face page 280.) Stone Axe from Tennessee. PLATE XIII. (To face page 282.) Figs. 1-5. Typical Forms of Perforated and Ornamental or Ceremonial Hatchets. - ' 6. Hammer-Stone. PLATE XIV. (TofaeepayeZQQ.) Fig^ i_4. Stone Chisels. 5-7. Stone Gouges. 8. Bone Gouge. 9-14. Typical Forms of Stone Scrapers. PLATE XV. {To faze page 290.) Figs. 1--9. Flint Knives and Leaf-shaped Implements. PJ.ATB XVI. Fig. 1. Bone Awl. 2--5. Stone Borers. 6-9. Smoothing-Stoiies. 10. Drift Implement. (To face page 292.) PLATE XVII. (To fa-ce pags 302.) Fig. 1. Stone Hoe. 2. Stone Spade. 3-5. Flint Agricultural Implements. I.I3T OF ILLUSTRATION. XV PLATE- XVIII. (To face page 812.) Figs. 1 3. Stone Mortars. 4-5. Stone Pestles. G and 8. Maize-crush firs or Triturating Stones. 7. Stone upon which Nuts were cracked. PLATK XIX. {To face page 338.) Figs. 1-fi. Perforated Stone Net-sinkers. 7-11. Grooved " " 12. Fishing Plummet. PLATE XX. (To faze page*S4.) Figs. 1-13. jJiscoidal Stones. PLATE XXL (To faaepage 858.) Figs. 1-fj. Stone Tubes. PLATE XXIT. (To f.ice page 36G.) .Fig. 1. Stone for rounding Arrow-shafts. 2 and 3. Pierced Tablets. 1 4. Slung-stone. 5. Amulet. 0. Stone Plato. 7. Whetstone. PLATE XXIII. (To face pays 404.) Figs. 1-0. Typical Forms of Calumets. PLATE XXIV. (To face page 410.)Figs. 1-7. Typical Forms of Common Clay and Stone Pipes. PLATE XXV. To face paye 430.) Figs. 1-0. Clay Images. PLATE XXVI. (To face page 432.) Figs. 1-3. Front, Side and Bear Views of the Stone Image found in the Etowah Valley, Georgia. PLATE XXVII. Fig. 1. Bnrial-Crn. 2. Large Earthen Pot. 3 and 4. Jars. 5-7, Pots with Ears. S. Tot with Legs. 9 and 10. BowLs. (To face page 454.) LIST OF ILI/tTSTKATIOXS. PLATK XXVIII. (To face page 4SG.) Fig. 1. Jar. 2. Burial-Urn. 3 and 4. Vessels with Narrow Necks. 5-10. Pottery from Stone Graves of Tennessee. PiATJ; XXIX. (To face page 433.) !. 1-32. Sherds, showing the Ornuiuentution of Primitive Potte: PLATE XXX. (To face pay,, 503.) >. 1 and 2. ^Vampum or Shell Money. 3 and 4. Shell Gorgets. 5-7. Shell Pins. 8. The Oliva as a Shell Bend. 9. The Marginella as a Shell Bend. 10-12. Impcrforate Columns of Sea-Shells as Articles of Col 13. Bone Bead. 14-19. Typical Forms of Shell Beads. WOOD C 17 T S . ANTIQUITIES SOUTHERN CHAPTER I. Location of Tribe*.--Physical Characteristics of the Southern Indians.--Svstcm of Government.--The Mico.--The Head AVar-Chief.--Public Buildings in a Greek Village.--Mode of Warfare.--Office of High-Priest.--Sun-Worship.-- I Offering of the Stag.--Idol-Worship.--Religious Ideas.--The Sun among (lie Natchcz.--The Caeiea of Cutifaehiqui.--Mausoleum of Talomcco.--Tombs of the Virginia Kings. BY letters patent, dated tlie 9th of June, 1732, King George II. incorporated the trustees for estab lishing the colony of Georgia in America, and con veyed to them and their successors " seven-eighths of all that territory lying between the Savannah and Alatamaha Rivers, and westwardly from the heads of the said livers respectively, in direct lines, to the sonth seas." In this alienation were embraced all isl ands within twenty leagues of the const. Including a large portion of the present States of Alabama and Mississippi, this grant claimed an extension, in a west erly direction, as indefinite as "was then the geographi cal knowledge of the region intended to be compi'ised in the royal feofmerit. Of the Indian nations, east of the Mississippi River, occupying and living adjacent to this territory about L 12 ANTIQUITIES OE THE SOUTIIEEB" INDIANS, the beginning of the eighteenth century, the dominant peoples were tlie lichees, Lower, Middle, and Upper Creeks--constituting the formidable MUSCOGEE CON FEDERACY--the Yamasees, the Cherokees, the Chickasaws, the Choctaws, the I^atcliez and the Seminoles. ' East of the Savannah Kiver resided the Catawbas, the Savannahs, and the Westoes--the latter tribe includ ing the Stonoes and the Edistoes--cruel and hostile peoples, between whom and the Carolina colonists early and prolonged warfare ensued. The Yamasees are mentioned by Governor Arehdale a as living about eighty miles from. Charleston, and extending their hunting excursions nearly to St. Augustine. This was in 1G95. Between, the "Westoes and the Savan nahs--both potent tribes and numbered bv " many thousands" -- a violent civil strife arose, in conse quence of which they were greatly reduced in popula tion and resources. This contest resulted in the final overthrow and expulsion of the ^Vestoes--" the more cruel of the two "--the Savannahs continuing " good friends and useful neighbors to the English." ' Small pox and other unusual sicknesses are said, at an early period of the English colonization of Carolina, to have wrought sad havoc among the natives. Surveyor-General Lawsoii describes the Savannahs as a " famous, warlike, friendly nation of Indians ]iv- l History of East ana W>sst Florida," pp. 5!)-C7, 71. THK YAMASEES, Tj CHEFS AKD CREEKS. 3 ing to the south end of Ashly River." * They prob ably derived their name from the river whose banks they inhabited, and it is Mr. Gallatiii's opinion 2 that they and the, Yamasees were one and the same people, the latter being the true Indian name. These Yamasees and their confederates were, ill 1715, routed by Governor Craven and driven across the Savannah River into the arms of the Spaniards in Florida. -/It is not improbable that the.Yam a ci-mvs. who were occupying the present site of the city of Savarinah whei General Oglethorpe landed and estab lished the colony of Georgia, were a remnant of this tribe. Among the allies of the Yamasees the lichees vrere numbered, and they, too, after this signal discom fiture, contented themselves with a residence in the everglades of Florida. Theirs, of all the Indian lan guages of this region, was the most uncouth and gut tural. Bartram asserts that their national language was radically different from the Miiscogulgee tongue. He was informed by the traders that their dialect was the same as that of the Shawiiees. Although at one time confederated with the Creeks, they refused to mix with them and excited the jealousy of that whole nation. The Chickasaws at one period occupied the left bank of the Savannah River opposite Augusta.* About the date of the colonization of Georgia, the territory of the Creek Confederacy--including lands inhabited, by the Semiuoles--was bounded on the west by Mobile River and by the ridge separating the waters of the Tombigbee from those of the Ala bama (the latter being the contested boundary-line be- 1 " History of Carolina," p. 42. London, 1714. 3 Synopsis of the Indian Tribe*, " Arehieologia Americana," vol. ii., p. 84. a Iluywood'ri " Aboriginal History of Tennessee," p. 290. 4 ANTIQUITIES OP THE SOITTHERJT ISDIAisS. tweeii the Creeks and tlie Choctaws), on the north by the Cherokees, 011 the northeast by the Savannah River, and on every other side by the Atlantic Ocean and the G-nlf of Mexico. It is believed, at the end of the seventeenth century, that, sonth of the thirty-fonrth degree of north latitude the Greets occupied the eastem as well as the western bank of the Savannah. It cannot now be ascertained with certainty when the consolidation of this confederacy was effected. "It is probable," says Mr. Gallatin, " that the appellation of Appalachians was geographical, and applied to the Indians living on the Appalnchicola or Chattahoochee River, as the name of Creeks seems to have been given from an early time to those inhabiting1 generally the country adjacent to the Savannah River." Of the Creek Confederacy, by far the most numerous and powerful nation was the IVEnscogee.1 The Hitehittees, who resided on the Chattahoochee and flint .Rivers, although a distinct tribe, spoke a dialect of the JMiiscogee. The Seiniiioles, or Isty-seniole (wild men), inhabiting the peninsula of Fiorida, -were pure jSluscogees, and received that name because they subsisted principally by hunting and devoted but little attention to agriculture.* "When questioned as to their origin, the Muscogees responded that the prevailing tradition among them was, that their progenitors had issued out of a cave near the Alabama, River, The account given by tlie Hitchittees of their beginning wa,s scarcely less fanci ful. They claimed that their ancestors had fallen from the sky. THE CIIACTAWS, UCIIEES "The Chactaws." says Captain Romans, "have told me of a hole between their nation and tlie Chicasaws, out of which their whole, very numerous nation, -walked, forth at once, without HO much as warning any neigh bor." ' The Uchees and the x^atehez both acknowledged allegiance to the Creek Confederacy. The original seats of the Uchees are thought to have been east of the Coosa, and probably of the Chattahooc-hee. They declared themselves the most ancient inhabitants of the cou itry, and it has been sugg'ested that they were the peoples called Appalach.es by the historians of De Soto's expedition. Their country wras mentioned as a land abounding in towns and subsistence. Marly in the eighteenth century, they occupied the western bank of the Savannah. River; and, as late as 1736, claimed the country both above and below Augusta. The name of at least one creek in Columbia County perpetuates at once their memory and. the fact of their former occupancy of this region. A residue of the iSTatchez forsook their old habitat on the banks of the Mississippi, and, journeying east ward, associated themselves with the Creeks less than one hundred and tifty years ago. The principal towns of the Creeks were Cussetah, Cowetah, Tukawbatchie, and. Oscoochee." The 'Mnscogee, the Hitchittee, the Uchee, the jSTatehez, and the Alibamoii or Coosada, were the principal languages spoken by the various tribes composing the Creek Confederacy. On the 12th of March, 1733, General Oglethorpe mentions the Lower and Upper Creeks, and the Uchees, as the three '"Coneiao Natural History of Bust and West Florida," p. 68. lilt. 2 "Arcbffiologia Americana," vol. ii., p. 95. Xew York, (> ANTIQUITIES OF TILE SOUTHERN INDIAXS. most powerful Indian nations in Georgia between tlie mountains and tlie coast. The Lower Creeks consisted of nine towns or cantons, and tlieir warriors were esti mated by him at one thousand. The military strength of the Upper Creeks he computes at eleven hundred moil capable of bearing arms, while it was supposed that tlie Uchees were at that time unable to bring into the field more than two hundred bow-men. This esti mate is evidently too small, and was vaguely formed. T)e Braluu, 1 at a later date, reckons the population of the Upper and Lower Creeks at fifteen thousand men, 'women, and-children, and rates their warriors and gun men above three thousand. To Colonel Hawking we are indebted for a very valuable sketch of the Creek country in 1*798 and 1799. The Creeks are described as powerful warriors, great politicians, and full of jealousy. They were a terror to the Cherokees and to the various Indian na tions with whom they waged ceaseless wars.' Captain Romans 4 enumerates remnants of the Cawittas, Talepoosas, Coosas, Apalachias, Conshacs, or Coosades, Oakmulgis, Oconis, Okchoys, Alibamons, Watchez, Weetumkus, Pakanas, Taensas, Chaesihoomas, Abekas, and of other tribes, whoso names lie did not recollect, all calling themselves Jlfnscokees, and consti tuting what was known as the Creek Confederacy. "The territories of the Cherokees, Chelakees, or more properly, Tsalakies," says Mr. GaUatin," extended 1 "History of the Province of Geoi-gia," etc., p. 55. Wormsloe, 1S19. 2 " Collections of tlie Georgia Historical Society," vol. iii., part 1., p. IS, et x'-ff. Savannah, 184S. ', also, "A Voyage to Georgia," begun in 'Jie year IVa.j, by praiicis Jloore, p. 61. London, 1741. :1 " History of tlie Province of Georgia," by Do Brahtn, p. 55. Wormsloe, 18-19. Adair's " History of the North-American Indians," p. 257, ci setj. Tendon, 1775. " Travels," etc., by William Eartram, p. 461, *'. seg. London, 1722. 4 " Concise Xataral History of East and West Florida," etc., p. 9O. New York, 1775. TERRITORY Of THE CHEROKHES. t nortli and south of the southwesterly continuation of the Appalachian Mountains, embracing oil the north the country on Tennessee or Cherokee Kiver and its tributary streams, from their sources down to the vi cinity of the Muscle Shoals, where they were bound ed on the west by the Ohicagas. The Cumberland mountain may bo considered as having been the bound ary on the north; but, since the country has been known to us, no other Indian nation, except some small bands of Shawiioes, had any settlement between that mount, in and the Ohio." On the west side of the Savannah, the Cherokees were confronted on the south by the Creeks, the division-line being Broad River and generally along the thirty-fourth parallel of north lati tude. East of the Savannah, their original seats em braced the upper waters of that river, of the Sautee, and, probably, of the Yadkin, but could, not have ex tended as far south as the thirty-fourth degree of north latitude. They were bounded on the south, probably, by Muskhogee tribes in the vicinity of the Savannah, and, farther east, by the Catawbas." Between the Shawnoes and the Cherokees prolonged strife occurred, which resulted in the expulsion of the former from the country south of the Ohio. T\rith the Creeks also the Cherokees were constantly at variance. When in 1730 the whites interposed their good offices to bring about a pacification between the Tnscaroras and the Cherokees, the latter responded: " Wo cannot live without war; should we make peace with the Tuscaroras, with whom we are at war, we must imme diately look out for some other with whom we can be engaged in. our beloved occupation." 2 s Haywood's "Natural and Aboriginal History af Tennessee^" p. 238. Xasbville, 1828. 8 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN" INDIANS. The history of the Ckerokees is marked 1:>J contintied and prolonged struggles. Their country being strong, their men trained to anas, and the integrity of the nation at all times wonderfully preserved, these peoples do not appear, in their territorial possessions, to have been materially injured by their frequent contests with adjacent tribes. In 1762 Adair estimated the number of their warriors at three thousand two hun dred, and adds, he was informed that, forty years before, they had at least six thousand men capable of bearing arms.' In perpetuating his impressions of the PHYSICAL ciiAUACTHiiiSTtcs of the Southern Indians, Mr. I->artram * writes : " The males of the Cherokees, Muscogiilgees, Siminoles, Chicasaws, Chactaws, and confederate tribes of the Greeks, are tall, erect, and moderately robust; tlieir limbs well shaped, so as generally to form a per fect human figure; their features regular and counte nance open, dignified, and placid ; yet the forehead and brow so formed as to strike you instantly with heroism and bravery ; the eye, though rather small, active and full of fire ; the iris always black, and the nose com monly inclining- to the aquiline. Their countenance and actions exhibit an air of magnanimity, superiority, and independence. Their complexion of a reddish brown or coppe.r color ; tlieir hair long, lank, coarse, and black as a raven, and reflecting the like lustre at different exposures to the light. The women of the Cherokees are tall, slender, erect, and of a delicate frame ; their features formed with perfect symmetry, their counte nance cheerful and friendly ; and they move with a becoming grace and dignity. 1 " History of the American Indians," p. 227. London, 1Y75. -" Travels through ^orth and South Carolina, Georgia," etc., p. 481. Lon don, 1792. THE MUSCOGUXGHES ASD CITEROKEES. 9 " The Muscogulgee women, though remarkably short of stature, are well formed ; tlieir visage round, features regular and beautiful, the brow high and arched ; the eye large, blade, and languishing, expressive of modesty, diffidence, and bashfillness; these charms are tlieir de fensive and offensive weapons; and they know very well liow to play them off; and, nnder cover of these alluring graces, are concealed the most subtle artifices; they are, however, loving and affectionate ; they are, I believe, the smallest race of women yet known, seldom above five feet high, and I believe the greater number never arrive to that stature ; tlieir hands and feet not larger than those of Europeans of nine or ten years of ago; yet the men are of gigantic stature, a full size larger than Europeans ; many of them above six feet, and few under that, or live feet eig'ht or ten inches. Tlieir complexion much darker than any of the tribes to tlie north of them that I have seen. This descrip tion will, I believe, comprehend the Muscogulges, their confederates, the Clmctaws, and, I believe, the Chicasaws (though I have never seen their women), except ing some bands of the Siminoles, Uches, and Savaunucas, who are rather taller and slenderer and their complexion brighter. " The Cherokees are yet taller and more robust than the Muscogulges, and by far the largest race of men I have seen; their complexions brighter and somewhat of the olive cast, especially the adults ; and some of their young women are nearly as fair and blooming as Euro pean women. "The Cherokees, in their dispositions and manners, are grave and steady; dignified and circumspect in their deportment; rather slow and reserved in conver sation ; yet frank, cheerful, and hninane; tenacious of 10 ANTIQUITIES OP THE SOUTHERN DTDIAH3. the liberties and natural rights of man; secret, delib erate, and determined in their councils; honest, just, and liberal, and ready always to sacrifice every pleasure and gratification, even their blood, and life itself to de fend their territory and maintain their rights. . . . " The national character of the IMuscogulges, when considered in a political view, exhibits a protraiture of a great or illustrious hero. A proud, haughty, and arrogant race of men, they are brave and valiant in war, ambitious of conquest, restless and perpetually exercising their arms, yet magnanimous and merciful to a vanquished enemy when he submits and seeks their friendship and protection; always uniting the van quished tribes in confederacy with them: when they immediately enjoy, unexceptionably, every right of free citizens, and are, from that moment, united in one common band of brotherhood. They were never known to exterminate a tribe, except the Yamasees, who would never submit on any terms, but fought it out to the last, only about forty or fifty of them escaping at the last decisive battle, who threw themselves under the protection of the Spaniards, at St. Augustine. . . . The Muscogulges are more volatile, sprightly, and talk ative, than their northern neighbors, the Oherokees." The SYSTEM op GOVEEIOIEKT obtaining among these Southern nations seems, in its general features, to have been quite similar. In the Muscogulgee confederacy every town or village was regaz'ded as an independent nation or tribe having- its own mico or chief. In the soil and in the hunting privileges of the region each inhabitant had an equal right. Private property in habitations and in planting-grounds, however, wns conceded and respected. THE MICO AND CHEAT WAR-CHI"EF. 11 The MICO * "\vas considered the first man, In dignity and power, in his nation or town. lie was the su preme civil magistrate, and presided over the national council. His executive power was not independent, however, of the council, which convened every day, in the forenoon, in the public square. This office of mico or king was elective. The advancement to this su preme dignity was always conferred upon the person most worthy of it. Next in the order of dignity and power was the GKKAT W^_E-CHIEF. He led the army. In council his seat was nearest the mico, on his left, and at the head'of the most celebrated warriors. On the right of the mico sat the second head-man of the tribe, and '..below him the younger -warriors of the nation. "When, assembled in. the Great Rotunda, or "Winter Council-House, for the purpose of deliberating upon matters of general concern, the most profound respect and homage were paid by every one to the mico. To him the members of the council bowed very low, almost to his feet, when the cup-bearer handed, him the shell filled with the black-drink.2 This decoction of the leaves and tender twigs of the cassine or ilex y^t/pon was freely used "by the natives upon occasions of sol emn deliberation. Being- a most active and powerful diuretic, its purgative influences were invoked to free their bodies from all hinderaiice to thought; and, thus prepared for careful discussion, they entered upon the consideration of the important matters presented for the action, of council. De Bry presents us with a spir ited sketch of the kins' and warriors in convention 12 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INXHAKS. assembled, drinking freely of tliis oassine from shellcups and listening to the. animated address of one of the principal men. ^Vlien out of the council-house, and unemployed in public affairs, the intercourse be tween, the mico and the common, people was cordial and free from restraint. If we may credit the repre sentations of De Bry,1 no little ceremony was observed when, the king-s and queens of the Florida tribes ap peared in public. The mico alone had the disposal of the corn and fruits collected in the public granary. These general storehouses, circular in form.--their walls constructed of stone and. earth, and their roof's fashioned with tlie brandies of trees, grass, clay, and palmetto-leaves--were located in the -neighborhood of streams and in retired spots where they were protected from the direct rays of the sun. They were built and furnished by the common labor of the tribe, and in them were stored corn, various fruits, and the flesh of fishes, deer, alligators, snakes, dogs, and other animals, previously smoked and dried on a scaffold.2 "With the first fruits of the season was the king complimented. It was his province to give audience to ambassadors, deputies, and strangers, and to him were pxiblic presents offered. He alone had the privilege of giving a general feast to ail entire village., on which occasion the king's standard was displayed in front of his house, a nag hoisted in the public square, drums boat about the town, and the inhabitants busily en gaged in painting and dressing themselves for the festivities. In the sixteenth century, the Florida -war riors, -when about to set out on a ho.stile expedition, THE OFFTC15 Oil1 KIKG. 13 assembled round their kino-, who, taking a dipper of water and sprinkling them, exclaimed, " As I have scat tered this water, so do you cause the blood of your enemies to flow freely." Then, with water from another vessel, extinguishing a iire kindled in the cir cle, he added, " As I have put out this flame, so may you vanquish, and destroy your antagonists." ' It would appear that, on some occasions, the king, wdieii about to enter into battle, was borne upon a platform elevated upon the heads and shoulders of his men." The care and protection of widows, whose hus bands had fallen ill battle or perished by disease, devolved upon the king." Capital punishment was meted out ill the pres ence of the mico and council seated in a semicircle, the victim kneeling in the centre, and the executioner, his left foot upon the back of the criminal, with a stout, paddle-shaped club made of hard wood, striking him upon the top of the head with such violence as to split the skull." The custom obtained among some of the Southern nations of sacrificing to the king the first-born male child." The office of king was for life, or during good be havior. It cannot be denied that to the kingly office, among most of the Southern tribes, appertained, des potic powers. Especially was this the fact at the period of our first acquaintance with the form of gov ernment dominant among these peoples. By at least 1 ''Brevis Nim-atio," plate xi. - Ibid., plate xiii. 3 Ibid., plate xsiii. 4 Ibiit., plate xxxii. * Ibid., plate xxxrii. 14 AWriQTJITIKS OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. one of the early historians are we assured that, ill sa luting a cacique, the subject need gestures, somewhat modified in degree, but similar in form to those em ployed in the adoration of the sun. The intimation is that in hia person and position were recognized a su periority, a dignity, and an authority near akin, but subordinate to those which inhered in the celestial luminary--the most potent and admirable representa tive of the goodness and supremacy of the Great Spirit. Colonel Hawkins * thus epitomizes the duties of the Creek mico in 1798: The mico of the town super intends all public and domestic concerns, receives all public characters, hears their talks, lays them be fore the town and delivers the talks of his town. The mico of a town is always chosen from some ojv* J* ily. The mico of Tuck-au-bat-che is of the eagle tribe (Lum-ul-gee). After he is chosen and put on his scat, he remains for life. On his death, if his nephews are At for the office, one of them takes his place as his successor; if they arc unfit, one is chosen of the next of kin, the descent being always iu the femaleline. When a mico, from age, innrmity, or any other cause, wants an assistant, he selects a man who ap pears to him the best qualified, and proposes him to the councillors and great men of the town, and, if he is approved by them, they appoint him as an assistant in public aAairs. The mico, councillors, and warriors, meet every day in the public square, sit and drink a-cee--a strong decoction of the cassine yupon, called by the traders * " Skutch of the Greek Country." Collections of tho Georgia Historical Soci ety, ?oL 111., part 1., p. 60. Suvaonmh, 1848. WAK, PEACE, PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 15 lilaok'drinlc--talk of news, the public and domestic concerns, smoke their pipes and play thla-chal-litch-cau. They have a regular ceremony for making' as well as delivering the a-cee to all who attend the square. In all transactions which require secrecy the rulers meet in the chooc-ofau-thluc-co--the -rotunda or (fssemblyroom called by the traders Jiot-Jiouse--kindle the spiral fire, deliberate, and decide. When they have decided oil any case of death or whipping, the mico appoints the warriors who are to carry it into effect, or he gives the judgment to the great warrior (tustuimuggeethluc-co) and leaves to him the time and mariner of executing it. ^Var is always determined on by the great warrior. If the mico and warriors are of opinion that the town has been injured, it is the province of the former to lift the hatchet against the offending nation. Even after a declaration of Avar, however, the mico and councillors may interpose and proceed to adjust the misunderstanding by negotiations. Peace is concluded by the mico and councillors, and peace-talks are always addressed to the cabin of the rnico. It is the privilege of the mico and coun cillors to fix the precise time for the celebration of the annual festival of the Boos-ke-tan. Of the buildings which formed the public square in the Creek villages, the first in rank: was the mic-ulgee-in-too-pau, or mico's cabin. It fronts the east. The centre of this building is occupied by the mico, the rig'ht division by the inic-u^-gee and the council lors, and the left division by the people second in com mand, who have the direction of the public works appertaining to the town. Second in rank is the tus-tun-iiug-ul-gee-in-too-pau, 1(5 ANTIQUITIES OI' THE SOUTIIEKS INDIAKS. or warrior's cabin. Tliis fronts the south. At the west end of this cabin sits the head-warrior. In this division are seated also the great warriors. The next in rank sit in the centre division, and the young war riors in the third. These warriors rise by merit, and the great-warrior is selected by the mice and coun cillors as the most noted of all the warriors. .The cabin of the beloved men--is-te-chaguc-ul-gee.-in-toopau--fronts north and is erected for the accommoda tion of those who have been war-lenders and who have rendered themselves distinguished by a long course of valuable public serx'iee. I^ast in rartk is 'hut-te-mau-lmg-gee-in-too-pati--the cabin of the young people and their associates. This fronts the west. To these may be added the chooc-ofao-thluc-co--the ro tunda, or assembly-room, called by the traders Jiot7iouse. In the centre of this is the spiral fire. This is the assembly-room for all people, old and young. Here they congregate every night, and amuse them selves with dancing, singing, or conversation. In this building sometimes, in very cold weather, the old and linked sleep. In the absence of the mico, the OpvEAi7 "\VAi;-Ciri.KF ' represented him in council, and his voice was of the greatest weight in military affairs. His authority was independent of the mico, although, should the mico enter upon a military expedition, he was entitled to the command. Subordinate to the great war-captain were leaders of parties--elderly men distinguished for valor, strategy and intrepidity. Of such were their dignified and venerable councils composed. Having by fasts and purifications prepared them selves for the expedition, having consulted the higli- 1 "Bartram's Travels," p. 494. Lomion, 1792. MODE OF WARFARE. 17 priest,1 with, regard to the success of the enterprise, and obtained from him a favorable response, fantastically painted and plumed, each carrying a small bag of parched corn, and armed -with a long boMr and. quiver of arrows suspended from the right hip, and frequently with a formidable club made of hard wood, and a spear,* the warriors set off from the village with a great noise and defiant shouts. The head-warrior, talcing the lead, was followed by the rest in single file. "When. near the hostile town or in the vicinity of the spot where a meeting with the enemy was anticipated, the most profound silence and careful circumspection were observed. Their conduct then resembled the action of . the concealed lynx waiting for an opportunity to ',-*-*-*-" nee upon its prey in an unguarded moment. A. su^.'en attack, a fearful succession of wild yells, an in discriminate massacre, and the demolition by fire of the habitations of their enemies, and then a hasty return with captives and bloody trophies of the pillage and butchery--these constituted, as a general rule, the sum total of a successful military excursion. " Their maner of warres," says Thomas Ilnriot,3 " amongst themselues is either by sudden surprising one an other most commonly about the clawnirig of the day, or moone light; or els by ambushes, or some suttle deuiscs: Set battels are very rare, except it fall out where there are many trees, -where eythcr part may haue some hope of defence, after the delruerie of euery arrow, in leaping behind.some or other." The Southern Indians are said 1 "Brevis Xarratio," plate xll. 2 Ibid., plate -\iv. 3 " A Briefe ami True Report of the New-found-land of Virginia," etc., p. '25. Francoforti ad M cerium. DC Bry, anno 1590. Compare also Du Pratz's "His tory of Louisiana," chapter iii., book iv., sec. vil., vol. ii., p. 242, et serj. Lon don, 1763. Smith's " History of Virginia," Richmond reprint, 1819, vol. i., p. 182. 18 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOTJTIIEliN INDIANS. to have dealt less cruelly with tlieir captives than did their T^ortheru neighbors. The Spaniards found to tlieir cost that tlie natives were very ready with tlieir weapons. Says the Greutleman of Elvas,1 " Tlie Indians are so warlike and jiiml>le tLat they have no fear of footmen; for if these charge them, they flee, and when they turn their backs they are presently upon them. They avoid nothing more easily than the night of an arrow. They never remain relict, but are continually running;, trav ersing from place to place, so that neither cross-bow nor arcuiebuse. can be aimed at them. Before a Chris tian can make a single shot with either, an Indian will discharge three or four arrows, and he seldom misses of his object. AVhere the arrow meets with no armour, it pierces as deeply as the shaft from a cross-bow. Their bows are very perfect; the arrows are made of certain canes, like reeds, very heavy, and so stiff that one of them, when sharpened, will pass through a target. Some are pointed with the bone of a fish, sharp and like a chisel; others with some stone, like a point of diamond: of such, the greater nurabei1, where they strike upon armour, break at the place where the parts are put together; those of cane split, and will enter a shirt of mail, doing more injury than when armed." A. public declaration of war was sometimes made by planting arrows along the pathway leading to the principal village of the enemy." They also were able, by means of ignited tufts of dried moss and grass, at tached' to the heads of their arrows, to set fire to thethatched cabins located in the fortified towns of their WAULIKIi] CHARACTERISTICS. KIGII-PIIIEST. 10 adversaries. 1 The wretched crtielties visited even upon the dead bodies of the hostile slain are shock ingly portrayed byDeBry in plate xv. of the "Brevis N'arratio." Courage, craft, perseverance, physical endurance, stoicism, ability to counsel with wisdom and.eloquence, experience In. combat, and activity and sliill in the use of "weapons, must all have been acquired and exhibited in a marked manner before the Southern Indian came to he regarded as a leading warrior in his nation. His honor and love of country lie esteemed of far greater value than life; and the most exquisite tortures failed to compel him to surrender and compromise the one, or renounce the other. In the arts of strategy, ambus"~*de, deception, and personal concealment, they excelled. -. i>j-A . Adair,2 in his general observations on the North American Indians, presents us with a detailed account of the martial spirit, devotion to country, caution In %var, method of fighting, cruelty to captives, fortitude in view of death, and the triumphs accorded to success ful warriors, as they existed among- the Southern In dians during the period of his residence among them, which, did the limits of this general sketch permit, we would gladly here reproduce. A person of great power and consequence was the ANCEEKT HIGH-PRIEST. He presided iu spiritual af fairs ; and, In military matters, his influence was most potent. Never did the council determine upon a hos tile expedition without his counsel and sanction..3 To him was accorded the ability to hold personal com munion with invisible spirits capable of exerting a con- 20 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOTTTIIETOT IKDIAS'S. trolling influence over human plans. Through him the elements were propitiated, and his capability to foresee the result of an enterprise was unquestioned. So great, remarks Mr. Uartram,1 is the influence of these high-priests, that they have been frequently known to-stop and turn back ail army after a march of several hundred miles, and when, it had approached within a clay's journey of the enemy-. Their predic tions were frequently surprising. They pretended, moreover1, to foretell the coming of a drought, and to be able to "bring rain upon the thirsty zea, to cure diseases, invoke or expel the presence of evil spirits, cause the tempest to cease, ami direct the thunder and lightning. It was their office to mediate between the beloved red-people and the bountiful, holy spirit of Fire. AVith their advice the season was set for plant ing, and occasions were designated for the solemniza tion of the public religious festivals. In every town they had their juniors or graduates learned iu the con jurer's and medicine-man's arts. Among the Southern tribes the sun was regarded as the symbol of the power and beneficence of the Great Spirit, the Supreme God, or Creator, the soul and governor of the universe, the giver and takeraway of the breath of life. Hence, to this celestial luminary did they pay profound homage as to the visible minister and representative of the author of life, and light, and heat. To it their vows were offered as they puffed the smoke from the great calu met toward the heavens. "With reverence did they look upon the face of this God of Day, as they delib erated in council, or set out upon the war-path. Fire, ' Transactions of the American SUN-WORSHIP. SUPERSTITIONS. 21 as an emanation from tliis celestial source, tliey vener ated and. propitiated with mysterious rites and cere monies. Temples were erected at great cost of mate rial and labor for this snn-worsliip, in which priests officiated. Their province it was to guard, tlie Eternal Fire in the Rotunda; and, in the solemn, annual festi val of tlie Busque, when all the iires of tile nation were extinguished, tlie high-priest alone--ministering between the Great Spirit and man--was commissioned, in the temple, to reproduce the celestial spark and give new fire to the community. Believing in the immortality of the soul, in a future state of rewards and punishments, acknowledging the supreme power and control of one great, invisible, supreme spirit, these Southern Indians were plagued with ail apprehension of visions, dreams, trances, and malign influences of lesser divinities, which afforded ample scope for the operation by priests and conjurers using incantations, charms, and mysterious appliances upon their hopes and fears, credulity, and superstitions. TJpon the death of a high-priest, the entire community united in paying the fullest funeral -honors, and heaped above him the conical earth-mound. 1 If -we may credit the assertion of the Gentleman of Elvas," some of the Florida tribes worshipped the devil, and made offerings of human sacrifices to the spirit of evil. Toward the latter part of February in each year, the Indians of Florida, taking the skin of the largest stag they had killed, stuffed it with the choicest fruits and matters which chiefly delighted them. The horns, 1 " Brevis Narratio," plate si. a " Narratives of the Career of ncrnando de Soto," etc., translated by Buck ingham Smith, p. .31. New York, 1806. 33 ANTIQUITIES OF TIIJE SOUTHER]? rs neck, and. body ATere encircled with vines and fruits most Tare. Thus attired, the stag, with music and para.de, was carried and placed upon trie top of a tall tree, with its head and breast turned fall -toward the rising sun. By the king and high-priest--who stationed themselves nearest the tree--prayers 'were addressed to this celestial luminary, and petitions of fered that he would be pleased to reproduce the good gifts which were then presented. The members of the tribe assembled in a circle, and, at a little remove, re peated these supplications. When they were finished, all having saluted the sun, departed, leaving- the stuffed and garlanded stag until the recurrence of the same season, when, on each ensuing year, similar cere monies were observed.1 It is probable that some of the larger terraced mounds and truncated pyramids were temples erected in honor of, and devoted to the worship of the sun. T\rithin the historic period idol-worsh ip existed, at least to a limited extent, among the Southern Indians. AVe will have occasion, however, in a subsequent chap ter, to consider this interesting- subject somewhat at length. Among the Natchez the machinery of temples, idols, priests, keepers of sacred things, and sundry religions festivals, was most elaborate. The preserva. tion of the eternal fire engaged their utmost solicitude. The Sim ruled with despotic power, and seemed in his person to unite the privileges of ting and high-priest. Here were observed more emphatically than among any other Southern tribes the distinctions of ranlc The common people--or Miclie-Miche-Quipy (Stinkards) --were, to the last degree, submissive to the nobility, 3 " Brcris N" la-ratio," pfate ^xv. THE STJK AMOJTG TJIE KATCHT:/. 23 consisting of Suns, nobles, and men of rank. These Suns claimed to be the descendants of the man and woman, who came down from the sun ; and their chil dren, to the remotest degree, were distinguished above the bulk of the nation and enjoyed an exemption from capital punishment. By them it was ordained that nobility should be transmitted only through the womei Upon the death of a Sun, many subjects. both m. and female, were sacrificed. No greater calamity could befall the nation than the extinction of the eternal iire. 1 The great chief of the Natchez bore the appella tion of TKE SiJ-N", He was succeeded in the kingly office by the son of the woman who -was most nearly related to him.2 To this woman the title of woman chief. was given. Great honors were paid to her, al though she meddled not in affairs of state. Like the great chief, she possessed the power of life and death over the common people, and did not hesitate to order her guards to slay any who offended her. Every morning, says Father Charlevoix,* as soon as the sun appears, the great chief comes to the door of his cabin, turns himself to the east, and howls three times, bowing down to the earth. Then they bring him a calumet, which is used only for this pur pose. This he smokes, and blows the smoke of the to bacco first toward the sun, and then toward the other three cardinal points. He acknowledges no superiorother than the sun. From this luminary he claims to 1 Sec D;i Pratz's " History of Louisiana," TM1. ii., chap. Hi., sec. 2-4, pp. 170, 222. London, 1763. j4.raong tlje Carolina Indians the succession fell not to thy king's his sisU'r's son (Lawson's " History of Carolina," p. 195. London, it appears that a similar rule obtained among other Southern tribes. 3 '- Voyage to Xorth America," etc., rol. ii., p. 100. Dublin, 17t>6. 24 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOTJTIIEEW INDIANS. derive his origin. Over his subjects lie exercises un limited power, can dispose at pleasure of their prop erty and lives, and pays no recompense for any labors he may demand of them. The deatli of a great chief costs the lives of his guards, and sometimes of more than a hundred per sons. At one time very few of the principal personages died without being escorted to the country of souls by some of their relations, friends, or servants. Suspect ing the death of De Soto, the Cacique of Guachoya ordered two well-proportioned young Indian men to be brought, saying it was the usage of the country, when any lord died, to kill some persons who might accom pany and serve him on the way to the spirit-land. He, therefore, ordered their heads to be struck off, and it was only after much persuasion, and upon the em phatic statement that the governor was not.dead but had only gone on a visit to the heavens, attended by a suitable number of soldiers, that Luys de ]Moscoso succeeded in effecting the release of these young Indians. 1 The tribes encountered by De Soto during his march east of the Mississippi were ruled over by caciques to whom their subjects yielded implicit obe dience. The province of Cutifachiqui, however, was governed by a eacica who welcomed the Spanish ad venturer right royally, and extended to him the hos pitalities of her kingdom. The stern of her canoe was covered with an awning, and she sat upon cushions. The country was delightful and fertile, arid here were found, in the possession of the natives and in the barbacoas, large quantities of clothing, and shawls 1 "Narratives of the Career of Hernando De Soto," translated by BuckingHam Smith, p. 148. New York, 1866. MAUSOLEUM AT TA1OMECO. 25 made of fibres of the "bark of trees and of feathers richly colored in white, gray, vermilion, and yellow, suitable for winter wear--well-dressed deer-skins with various designs depicted upon them--and many pearls. The inhabitants, says the Gentleman of Elx'as, -were brown of skin, well formed and admirably propor tioned. He distinctly affirms that they were more civilized than any peoples ho had seen in all the terri tories of .Florida, and that they wore clothes and shoes. To this cacica her subjects paid great respect, and her niece was at first commissioned to meet De Soto and assure him of the good-will of the queen. Mention is also made of the queen-mother, a widow, who, repos ing upon her dignity, refused to hold converse with the strangers. At Talomeco was a mausoleum a hundred paces in length and forty in breadth, with lofty roofs of reed. The entrance to this temple was guarded by gigantic wooden statues, carved with considerable skill, the largest of them being twelve feet high. Armed with various weapons, they stood in threatening attitudes and -with ferocious loots. Within "were statues of various shapes and sizes. Around the sepulchre were benches upon which, in "wooden chests skilfully wrought, but without locks or hinges, reposed the bodies of the departed caciques, priests, and chieftains of Catifachicmi. Beside these were smaller chests, and cane baskets filled with valuable furs, robes of dressed skins, and mantles made of the inner rind of trees and of a species of grass which, when beaten, closely resem bled flax. There were coverings formed of feathers of various colors, which the natives wore in winter. This temple also contained great store of pearls. Adjacent to this grand sepulchral receptacle were 26 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. several buildings which served as armories. In. them weapons of various sorts were carefully arranged and kept in order by numerous attendants.' The erection of temples or "buildings, and their dedication to the preservation of the bodies of their chiefs obtained also among other Southern tribes. Thus, in plate xxii. of the " Admirarula Narratio," we have a representa tion of one of these sepulchres as it existed among the Virginia Indians in the sixteenth century. The ex planatory note is thus quaintly " made in English " by Thomas Harlot, servant to Sir "Walter lialeigh : THE TOilDE OE THEIK WEttOWAXS OK dlEIFF LORDES. " Tlie bnilcle a Scaffolde 9 or 10 foote hihe as is expressed in this figure under the tobs of theit AVeroans, or cheefe lordes which they couer with matts, and lai the dead corpses of their weroaiis thereuppon in manner followinge. First the bowells are taken forthe. Then layinge down the skinne, they cutt all the flesh cleaiie from the bones, which the drye in the soniie, and v\rell dryed the inclose in Matts and place at their feete. Then their bones (remaininge still fastened together with the ligaments whole and vncorrupted) are couered agayne with leather, and their carcase fashioned as yf their nesh "wear not taken, away. They lapp eache coi'ps in his owiie skiiine after the same in thus handled, and lay yt in his order by the corpses of the other cheef lordes. By the dead bodies they sett their idol Kiwasa, whereof we spake in the former chapiter. For they are per suaded, that the same doth kepe the dead bodyes of their cheefe lordes that nothiiige may hurt them. Moreoiier under the foresaid scaffolde some 011 of their 1 Ivvin's " Conquest of Florida," chapter xlviii. TOMBS OF TI-Uj VIUCflKTA preists liatli his lotlginge. which Miimbleth his prayers iiighte and day, and liatli charge of the corpses. For his bedd lie hath two deares skinnes spredd on the grotvnde, yf the -wether bee cold hee maketli a fyre to warine by \vithall. Thes poore soules are thus iiistructed by natute to reuerouce their princes enen after their death." 1 Caves were sometimes dedicated to similar uses. 1 " ABriefe and True Keporfc of the in English by Thomas Harlot." Plate xs Mcenum. Do Bry. Anno 1590. CHAPTER II. Office of the Conjurer or Medicine-man.--Treatment of the Sick.--Medicinal Plants.--Towns and Private Houses.--Tenure of Property.--Agricultural Pursuits.--Town Plantations and Private Gal-dens.--Public Granaries.--Ani mal and Vegetable Pood.--Mechanical Labors.--Early Mining in Duke's-Creek Valley.--Manufacture of Canoes, Pottery, Copper Implements, Gold, Silver, shell, and Stone Ornaments.--Various Implements and Articles of Stone, Bone, and Wood.--Trade Relations. ASOTIIEE important person in every community was the CO^JTJREK, who generally united in himself tlie offices of priest, physician, and fortune-teller. He was supposed to possess unusual powers "because of his constant communion with and influence over evil spir its. Various and extravagant were his incantations, his charms mysterious and unexplained, and his con tortions, when engaged in the practice of his arts, pro longed and violent. His knowledge of medicinal herbs and simples gave him a decided advantage over the unlearned. Encouraging the superstitions of his patients, he pretended to work wonderful cures, and acquired wherever he went an influence most marked in its character. In the explanatory note accompany ing' plate ss. of the " Brevis ISTarratio," we are made acquainted with several methods adopted by the Flor ida Indians in their treatment of the sick. One rem edy consisted in scarifying the forehead of the patient with a, shell, and sucking therefrom the blood and hu- TJREATMENT O-F THE SICK. JAOUSAS. 29 inors which were supposed to contain the seeds of tlie disease. Others, suffering from different maladies, were compelled to lie upon their stomachs with their heads over pans, from which they inhaled, through their mouths and nostrils, the fumes of certain medici nal plants in a state of ignition. Tobacco-smoking was also employed as a means of expelling disease. To Coreal * we are indebted for the . following inter esting account of the office of the medicine-men among the Florida tribes: " AVhen they are siclc they have not a vein opened, according to our practice, but send for their Jaounaa who are their priests and physicians. The latter suck that part of the body which causes the patient the greatest pain, and this they do with the mouth, and sometimes also by means of a kind of shepherd's flute (une espece de chalumeau), after having made a small incisioii near some vein. They also mate incisions in the suffering parts of those who submit to their treatment. Previous to the ceremony, and also after the operation, the jaoiina utters some words. "Whether the patient dies or recovers, the jaoi'ina's gravity re mains unaffected. This behavior constitutes a part of his professional art. The respect and confidence with which the savages regard these men remain the same, no matter what the result may be. "The jaotinas also understand how to make their patients vomit by means of a powder which they pre pare from calcined shells. One must be a Floridian or the devil to resist the violence of this emetic, for I doubt whether there exists a more efficient prescrip tion for sending a European to the other world. They ''Voyages de FraDcois Coreal, aux Indes Occidentals (1600-169*7)." Am sterdam, 1*722. Vol. L, pp. 3y-41. 30 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOTTIIKEN INDIAKS. also bathe their sick, and when all remedies are ex hausted, and no hope remains, they expose them before their cabins to the rising sun, imploring and conjuring that luminary to cure them. In all diseases the meth od of treatment (or succession of remedies) is the same. They begin by sucking and making incisions, after which they resort to bathing, etc., until recovery or death occurs. In all these proceedings they preserve vrell their presumption, which they conceal from these poor people under an affected modesty and feigned abstinence. It is true, however, that they go through a rough and long apprenticeship under the Q\<\. yaounas, who are the chiefs of the sect, and this doubtless en hances the confidence which the Floridians repose in these priests and physicians. These jaoiinas are clacl in long robes made of various skins cut into unequal bands. These robes are fastened by girdles of deer skin, to which they attach their pouches tilled with herbs. Over the robe they wear, after the fashion of a cloak, the hide of some wihl animal. Their feet and arms are uncovered, and they have on their heads a skin cap terminating in a point." Of the Virginia conjurers, Hariot' says, they use strange gestures and are often contrary to Nature in their enchantments. They be " verye familiar with deuils, of whom they euquier what their enemys doe, or other suche thinges. They shaue all their heads sauinge their creste, which they weare as other doe, and fasten a small black birde aboue one of their ears as a badge of their office. They weare nothinge but a skinue, which haugeth downe from their gyrdle and couereth their prinityes. They weare a bagg by their PHYSICIANS AND CONJUKIEBS. 31 side. The Inhabitants giue great credit viito their speeche, which oftentimes they finde to bee true." The Natchez jugglers not only pretended to cure the sick, but also professed to procure rain and sea sons favorable for tlie fruits of the earth. Their in cantations were often directed to the dispersion of clouds and the expulsion of evil spirits from tlie bod ies of the afflicted. They were a lazy set of fellows, imposing trpon. the credulity of their countrymen, and receiving rich rewards when their patients recovered. 1 The Alibamons reposed great confidence in their doc tors, and regarded the ravings of these quacks and cunning impostors as the utterances of a divine lan guage." Among the Carolina tribes the priests were the 1 conjurers and doctors of the nation.' The theory was that all distempers were caused by evil spirits; conse quently, none of their physicians attempted to effect a cure until he had conversed with the good spirit, and ascertained wh ether his aid. could be-secured in the effort to exorcise the adverse demon. " As soon as the Doctor comes into the Cabin," says Surveyor-General Lawsoii,* " the sick Person is sat on a Mat or Skin, stark-naked, lying on his Back, and all uncovered, except some small Trifle that covers their Nakedness when ripe, otherwise in very young Children; there is nothing about them. Ill this Manner the Patient lies, when the Conjurer appears ; and the King of that ISTation comes to attend him with a Itattle made 1 See CbarlcYoix's "Voyage to North Americn," etc., vol. ii., p. 203. 11611. 2 "Travels through Louisiana, by Captain Bossu," yol. i., p. 2G4. 17*1. 3 Lavrsoivs " History of Carolina," p. 211. London, 1711. 4 Idem, p. 214. Dublin, London. 32 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOTJTIIEBN INDIANS. of a Gourd with Pease in it. This the King delivers into the Doctor's Hand, whilst another "brings a Bowl of "Water, and sets it down. Then the Doctor begins, and utters some few Words very softly ; afterward s he smells of the Patient's Navel and Belly, and sometimes scarifies him a little with a Flint, or an Instrument made of Kattle-Snake's teeth for that Purpose ; then he sucks the Patient, and gets out a Mouthful of Blood and Serum, but Serum, chiefly ; which, perhaps, may Tje a better Method in many Cases, than to take away great Quantities of Blood, as is commonly practised ; which he spits in the Bowl of "Water. Then he begins to mutter and tall?: apace, and, at last, to cut Capers and clap his Hands on his Breech and Sides, till he gets into a Sweat, so that a Stranger would think he was running mad; now and then sucking the Patient, and so, at times, keeps sucking, till he has got a great Quantity of very ill-coloured Matter out of the Belly, Arms, Breast, Forehead, Temples, Neck, and most Parts, still continuing his Grimaces and an tick Postures, which are not to be matched in Bedlam. At last you will see the Doctor all over of a dropping Sweat, and scarce able to utter one Word, having quite spent himself; then he will cease for a while, and so begin again till lie comes in the same pitch_ of Having and. seeming Madness as before. (All this time the sick Body never so much as moves, although, doubtless, the Lancing-aud Sucking must be a great Punishment to them ; but they cer tainly are the patientest and most steady People under any Burden that I ever saw in my Life.) At last the Conjurer makes an end, and tells the Patient's Friends whether the Person will live or die ; and then one that waits at this Ceremony takes the Blood away (which remains in a Lump in the middle of the Water), MEDICINE--MEN. 83 and. buries it in the Ground, in a Place unknown to any one but he that Intel's it." ' " In Medicine, or the Nature of Simples," says Thomas Ash,* " some have an exquisite knowledge ; and in the Cure of Scorlrutic, Venereal, and jMaliynant Distempers, are admirable. In all External Diseases they suck the Fart affected, with many Incantations, 1'hiltres, and C'7tarms." These medicine-men also conjured for stolen goods, understood the art of coloring the human hail", cured lingering distempers by wrapping a snake around the body of the afflicted, treated affections of the spleen and of the stomach by hot applications, relieved the toothache, administered ample purges through large draughts of the Yizupon, comprehended the medicinal virtues of tho sassafras and. many native plants, ap proved of the salutary influences of profuse sweat ing, rubbed with the fat of animals to render the limbs pliable, and, when wearied, to relieve pains iu the joints, administered the juice of the tulip-tree as a remedy for pox, and suggested various specifics for dis eases incident to climate and the exposed manner of life." The office of physician among these primitive peo ples, accompanied as it was with authority, notoriety, and emolument, was not exempt from danger. Fail ure to effect a cure, in some instances, involved, as a direct con sequence the death of the practitioner. The suggestion of such a penalty at this time, for profes sional ignorance or malpractice, would most essentially diminish the applications for admission to the degree 1 Compare Brickell's " Xntur.il History of North Carolina," p. 072. 1767. * "OaroMan," etc., p. 86. London, 16S2. " Stc Lawson's " Carolina," p. 215, rf M-?. London, 1714 DuUin, 34 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. of M. D., emphatically tliiu the ranks of the medical fraternity, and entirely extirpate the race of imptident quacks infesting the country through all its bor ders. In the opinion of Mr. Bartram,* the Southern In dians, in the treatment of diseases, depended more upon regimen and abstinence than they did upon, medi cines. The Cherokees used the Lobelia syphilitic, and endeavored to conceal from the whites all knowledge both of its virtues and of the localities in which it grew. A decoction of the Hignonia crucigera and of the roots of the cliina brier and the sassafras was freely employed for the purification of the blood. The caustic and detergent properties of the roots of the white nettle (rTcttroplia itrens) were utilized in cleansing old nlcers and. consuming proud flesh, while the dissolvent and dinretant powers of the root of the Convolvulus panduI'atus were highly esteemed as a remedy in nephritic complaints. The emollient and discutient power of the swamp-lily (tSaururus cernuus') and the virtues of the Jiypo or may-apple (Podophyllujn peltat'imi~) were both communicated to the Europeans by the Indians. The roots of the Panax ginseng and J^orida, or white-root, were held in the highest esteem among the Cherokees and Creeks. The virtues of the former are well known, and the friendly carminative qualities of the latter were constantly invoked for relieving all dis orders of the stomach and intestines. The patient chewed the root and swallowed the juice, or smoked it, when dry, with tobacco. Even the smell of the root exerted a beneficial effect. The Lower Creeks, in whose J ANCIENT TOWNS OF FLORIDA. 35 country it did not grow, gladly exchanged two or three buckskins for a single root of it.* Of tlie ANCIENT TOWNS of Florida, De Bry has given us several representations." They are all small, circular in outline, and defended "by stockades. The dwellings of chiefs, council-houses, public "buildings, granaries, and temples, we have considered elsewhere, and it only remains for us, in this connection, to notice the charac ter of the cabins occupied by the common people. These were confined, inconvenient, and ephemeral in their structure. Describing the dwellings of Toalli, the Knight of Elvas remarks that they were roofed with cane after the fashion of tile. They were kept very clean, and their sides, made of clay, looked like tapia. Throughout the cold country, he continues, every Indian has a winter house, plastered inside and out, with a very small door, which is closed at dark. Within, a fire is kindled which heats the building like an oven and renders clothing during the night-time en tirely unnecessary. The summer-house was more open, and near it was erected a small kitchen for baking bread. Maize "was kept in a house with wooden sides, raised aloft on four posts, -with a cane floor. The houses of the principal men or chiefs were larger than those of the subjects, and, in front, had deep balconies furnished "with cane seats. There were also large barbacoas filled with maize, deer-skins, and the blankets of the country--the tribute of the common people to their rulers.' These private residences were generally 1 Consult also-Adults "History of the North American Indians," p. 172, ci seq. London, 17M. 2 "Brevis Narratio," etc., plates xxx., xxxi., xxxiii., si. Francoforti ad Mcenum, anno 1591. s See " Narratives of the Career of Hernando de goto," translated by Buck ingham Smith, p. 52. New York, 1800, 36 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTIIEP.X INDIANS. circular in form, tlieir sides made of upright poles, the interstices filled witli clay, and tlieir tops thatched with dry grass, palmetto-leaves, or cane. During the sum mer months but little covering was needed," and the light, open summer-houses were frequently roofer! sim ply with tranches of trees. At a later period the Muscogulgees built houses much more substantial in tlieir character, plastering the walls carefully with red or white clay, and ornamenting them with various draw ings of animals, plants, trees, birds, and ,111611.' In the latter part of the sixteenth century the houses of the Virginia Indians were made of poles fastened at the top and covered either with bark or with rush mats. They were from twelve to twentyfour yards in length, and. about half as broad. Their towns consisted of a collection of from ten to thirty houses, and were sometimes open, and, in other in stances, were protected by stockades not unlike those in use among the Florida tribes. An example of a for tified village is presented in plate xix. of the " Adrniranda Karratio." The town of Secota (plate xx.), on the contrary, is entirely unprotected. In the vicin ity of this village are seen fields of maize and tobacco. The relative positions of the places of prayer, of feast ing, of dancing, of idol-worship, of the spot where the sacred, fire is kept burning, of the large building wherein, are entombed their kings, and the locality whence they derived their supply of water, are all delineated. AVhen a village was situated at a remove from a stream, spring, or lake, the earliest attention was paid to digging an artificial pond from which a liberal supply of water could at all times be obtained. 3 Bartram's " Observations on the Ci-cek and. Cherokce Indians." Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. iii., part 1, p. 18. WIGWAMS OF THE CAEOT-I^TA I^.'XHAX"S. ot Bibault thus describes a native village on the Flor ida coast: " Their houses be made of wood fitly and close; set upright and covered with reed s, the most part of them after the fashion of a pavilion. But there was one house among the rest very long and broad, with settles about made of reeds, trimly couched together, which serve them both for beds and seats ; they be of height two foot from the ground, set upon great round pillars painted with red, yellow', and bine, well and trimly polished." ' Perhaps the most minute and satisfactory descrip tion of the dwellings of the Southern Indians is that presented by Mr. Ijawson.2 Referring more particu larly to the Carolina tribes, he writes: L' These Savages live in Wigwams or Cabins built of Bart, which are made round like an Oven, to prevent any Damage by hard Gales of "Wind. They mate the Fire in the mid dle of the Ffotise, and have a Hole at the Top of the Hoof right above the Fire, to let out the Smote. These Dwellings are as hot as Stoves, where the Indians sleep and sweat all ISTight. The Floors thereof are never paved nor swept, so that they have always a loose Earth on them. They are often troubled "with a multitude of Fleas, especially near the Places where they dress their Deer-Stins, because that Hair harbors them; yet I never felt any ill, unsavory Smell in their Cabins, whereas, should we live in our Houses, as they do, we should be poison'd with our own hastiness ; which confirms these Indians to be, as they really are, some of the sweetest People in the ^Vorld. " The Bart they mate their Cabins withal, is gen erally Cypress, or red or white Cedar; and sometimes, 38 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOtirHERS UTDIAITS. when, they are a great way from any of these \Voods, they make use of Pine-Bark, which is the worser sort. In building these Fabricks they get very long Poles of Pine, Cedar, Hiccory, or any AVood that WJH bend ; these are the Thickness of the Small of a Man's Leg at the thickest end, which they generally strip of the Bark, and warm them well in the Fire, -which makes them tough and fit to Lend ; afterwards they stick the thickest ends of them in the Ground, about two Yards asunder in a Circular Form, the Distance they design the Cabin to be (which is not always round, but some times oval), then they bend, the Tops and bring them together, and bind their ends with. Bark of Trees, that is proper for that use, as Elm is, or sometimes the Moss that grows on Trees, and is a Yard or two long, and never rots; then they brace them with other Poles to make them strong; afterwards cover them all over with Bark, so that they are very warm and tight, and "will keep firm against all the "Weathers that blow. They have other sorts of Cabins without Windows, which are for their Granaries, Skins, and Merchandizes; and others that are covered over head ; the rest left open for the Air. These have Reed-Hurdles like Ta bles to lie and sit on, in Summer, and serve for pleas ant Banqueting-Houses in the hot Season of the Year. The Cabins they dwell in have Benches all round, ex cept where the Door stands ; on these they lay BeastsSkins and Mats made of Rushes, whereon they sleep and loll. In one of these several Families commonly live, though all related to one another." * CABINS OF THE GEOKGIA ISDIAXS. 3!) Some fifty yeai'S subsequent to the time when, tliis description was furnished by Mr. Lawson, De Bralim thus perpetuated his observations respecting the char acter of the houses used by the Indians on the coast of South Carolina and Georgia : " The Indian built their houses of posts, on which they lash in and out side canes, and plaster them over with a white clay mixed with small pieces of talk, which, in a sun shiny day gives to these houses, or rather cottages, a splendor of unpolished silver: they are about twelve foot wide, and twenty or more foot long, covered "with a clap board roof, have no windows, but two doors on the opposite sides, sometimes only one door ; the fire place is at one end of the house, with two bed states on both sides of the fire ; the bed states are made of canes, raised from the ground about two foot, and covered with bear's skins ; their corn houses are buit in the same manner, but raised upon four posts, four and five foot high from the ground; its floor is made of round, poles on which the corn worms cannot lodge, but fall through, and thus the Indians preserve their corn from being distroyed by the weevils a whole year. Two or more famelies joine together in building a hot house about thirty foot in diameter, and fifteen foot high, in a form of a cone, with poles and tatched, without any air hole, except a small door about three foot high and eighteen inches wide ; in the center of the hot-house they bum fire of well seasoned dry wood; 'round the inside are "bedstades fixed to the studs which support the middle of each post; in these houses they resort with their children in the winter nights. Upon the same plan of these hot-houses (only a greater diameter and perpendicul) their town houses are built, in which the head men assemble to consult 40 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTTLEEiX INDIANS. in war, peace, or other concerns and. every evening1 during summer all families of the town meet to dance and divert themselves." 1 In the vicinity of the Georgia villages, which, were usually located upon the banks of streams and in rich valleys, the followers of De Soto often found, large fields of maize, and in some instances artificial lakes used, as fish-preserves. With reference to the TJSXTTRE OF T.AZSTD AND PROP ERTY, it may be remarked, generally, that every tribe had its boundary-lines, and each nation or confederacy its own recognized territorial limits. In the public domain, with its rivers, and lakes, and forests, each Indian claimed a right of property for the purposes of travel, hunting, and fishing. All that a man earned or fashioned by his individual labor and industry be longed to himself, and he could dispose of it accord ing to the customs and usages of his people. It -was his privilege to clear, settle, and plant as much. land. as he chose, within the boundaries of his tribe. In villages the right of personal property was scrupulously observed, and theft was an uncommon occurrence. Every town or community, for the sake of convenience, assigned a parcel of land in its vicinity for agricultural purposes. This was called the " town plantation,2 where every family or citizen had his parcel, or lot, according to desire, or convenience, or the largeness of his family." These shares "were bounded by a strip of grass, by poles, or some artificial marks. In ancient AGEICTJLTTJHAI, 1ABOKS. 41 times, iii these corn-fields there were no fences. Eacli person, however, recognized the limits of his own. little farm, and refrained from interfering with Ms neigh bors' rights. 1 The entire plantation, therefore, was simply a collection of lots, adjacent the one to the other, and all embraced in one general enclosure. AVhen the proper season for planting arrived, all the inhabitants, as one family, devoted, their attention to the preparation, of the ground and the sowing of the seed. In like manner the plants, at proper times, "were, by common consent, cultivated. These agricul tural labors were superintended by an overseer elected or designated annually for that purpose. During the periods of special labor his province it was to awaken, the inhabitants of the town at daybreak -with a singu larly loud cry, assemble them with their agricultural implements in the public square, and, by sunrise, lead them into the fields where the work was commenced, and under his supervision prosecuted until evening. The women did not march out with the men, but .fol lowed in detached parties bearing the provisions of the day. " AVhen the fruits of their labors are ripe and in fit order to gather in," says Mr. Bartram, " they all, on the same day, repair to the plantation; each gathers the produce of his own proper lot, brings it to town, and deposits it in his own. crib, allotting a cer tain portion for the public granary, which is called the king's crib, because its contents are at his disposal, though not his private property, but considered as the tribute or free contribution of the citizens of the state, at the disposal of the king. " The design of the common granary is for the wisest and best of purposes with respect to their people, i. e., 1 "Luwson's Carolina," p. 179. London, 1714. 42 ANTIQUITIES Of THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. a store or resource to repair to in cases of necessity. Thus, when a family's private stores fall short, in cases of accident or otherwise, they are entitled to as sistance and supply from the public granary, lay ap plying to the king. It also serves to aid other towns which may be in want, and affords provisions for their armies, for travellers, sojourners, etc., etc. Thus the inico becomes the provider or father of Ms people." Besides the general plantation, each inhabitant of the village enclosed a garden-spot adjoining his cabin, in which he cultivated corn and vegetables, upon which he subsisted before the general harvest was gathered. "Widows with largo families were always assisted in planting, working, and gathering their crops.' Throughout the Creek Confederacy there wras con tinual and friendly intercourse between the families constituting the respective tribes. To their doors there were no bolts, and universal hospitality and good feeling prevailed. Ever ready to assist each other, and entertaining an abiding friendship, the one for the other, the members of the various tribes seemed to Mr. Bartram to constitute one great family, holding all their possessions in common. Theft was almost unknown. The AXIMAL POOD of the Southern Indians, at the dawn of the historic period, comprised all the wild animals native to the region, among which may be specially enumerated buffaloes, deer, bears, beavers, panthers, raccoons, opossums, wild-cats, rabbits and ASTJIAL FOOD. 43 squirrels. These wore generally killed with the bow and arrow. Certain seasons of the year were set apart for hunting, during which large quantities of meat were obtained, cured, and housed, for future consump tion. Fawns in the womb were esteemed a great deli cacy. All sorts of fishes, turtles, terrapins, oysters, clams, fresh-water mussels, conchs, alligators, arid even some varieties of snakes, were eaten, and much time was consumed in the capture of fishes by means of the bow and arrow, spears, nets, baskets, and "wears. The bone hook, and line made of deer-thong, or twisted fibro, were used only to a limited extent. Captain John Smith 1 asserts that the Virginia Indian women spun betwixt their- hands and thighs the barks of trees, a kind of grass, and deer sinews, out of which they readVily made a very even thread. Out of this thread they made garments, nets, and fishing-lines. "Their fish hooks," he continues, " are either a bone grated as they noch their arrowes, in the forme of a crooked pimie, or of the splinter of a bone tyed to the clift of a little sticke, and with the end of the line they tie on. the bate." Young wasps, "white in the comb, were re garded as a dainty morsel. Wild-turkeys, water fowl, and various birds, were eagerly sought after and eaten. In a word, there was but little animal life in the forests or in the "waters of the country which the Southern Indian excluded from, his food-list. Even 1 "History of Virginia," Richmond reprint, 1819, vol. i., p. 133. 2 Lawson's " History of Carolina," p. 178. London, 1714. "Brevi3 Narratio," plates xxiv., xxv., xxvi. Francoforti ad Moauum, 1591. " Admiranda Narratio," plates siii., xiv. Franeoforti ad Mrenum, 1590. Ash's " Caro lina," p. 36. London, 1682. Bartram's " Observations on the Creek and Cherokee Indians." Transactions of the American Ethnological Society, vol. iii., part i., p. 47. Adair's " History of North American Indians," p. 402, et sty. London, 1775. Timbcrlake's "Memoirs," p. 45. London, 1765. Smith's "History of Virginia," Richmond reprint, 1819, vol. i., p. 133. 44 ANTIQUITIES OF TI-IE SOCTirERX IS"DIAK"S. upon dogs did they sometimes subsist. The skills of the buffalo, deer, and other animals, were dressed and used as clothing. Among the vegetables upon which these primitive peoples chiefly relied for sustenance, may be mentioned Indian corn (maize or zea), wild-potatoes, ground-nuts, acorns, walnuts, hickory-nuts, chestnuts, pumpkins, melons, gourds, beans, pulse of various sorts, persim mons, peaches, plums, grapes, and mulberries. The tuberous roots of the sm.ilax (/S. pseudochinci^) were dug up, and, while still fresh and full of juice, were chopped up and macerated well in wooden mortars. "When thoroughly beaten, this pulpy mass was put in earthen vessels containing clean water. Here it was stirred with wooden paddles or "with the hands. The lighter particles, -floating upon the top, were poured off. A farinaceous matter was leffc at the bot tom of the vessel; which, when taken out and dried, remained an impalpable powder or farina of a reddish color. Boiled in water, this powder formed a beauti ful jelly, which, when sweetened, was both agreeable and nourishing. In combination with corn-flour and when, fried in fresh bear's-grcase it made excellent fritters. 1 Tobacco also was regularly and extensively culti vated. The Southern Indians, especially those resident upon the rich valleys of the interior, devoted no little time and attention to agriculture. With them maize was emphatically the staff of life. Upon its nutritious properties they relied both during its milky state and when dry. In the latter condition it was often parched, pounded, moistened with water, and thus eaten. This 1 Bar tram's " Observations on the Creek and die of tljc American Ethnological Society, vol. iii., part USE OF CORIS", ircne, AND SALT. 40 was the case when the party was on the march or en gaged in hunting. Greiierally "beaten in a mortar, it was eitlier boiled for hominy, or, mixed with hickorynut-milk, walntit-oil, or fresh bear's-fafc, was baked into bread or fried, as cakes. In a subsequent chapter upon agriculture we "will note more carefully the facts con nected with the cultivation, preservation, and use of the grain which subserved such important purpose in the domestic economy of these peoples. "Walrmts arid hickory-nuts were dilig-ently collected, cracked, and boiled in vessels, when the oil which rose to the surface was skimmed off and carefully preserved in covered earthen jars. This oil was highly esteemed. in the preparation of their corn-cakes. Of the seeds of the sunflower, when, pounded, they also made bread. The amexlas was freely eaten, and. ripe persimmons were pressed into cakes and stored away for consump tion during the winter months. Grapes were dried in the sun an d collected i n the public granaries and private store-houses. Wild-honey was also gathered. 1 Salt was manufactured by the natives. The Knight of Elvas 2 informs us that the natural salt uud the sand with, which, it was intermixed were thrown, into bas kets made for the purpose. These were large at the mouth and small at the bottom, or, in other words, fun nel-shaped. Beneath them--suspended in the air on a ridge-pole--vessels were placed. "Water was then poured upon the admixture of sand and salt. The 1 Consult " Narratives of the Career of Hernamlo de Soto," etc., translated by Buckingham Smith, pp.38, 55, 69, 77, 200-202. New York, 1S6G. " A Briefe and True Report of the New-found Land of Virginia," hy Thomas Hariot, pp. 13-16. Francoforti ad Mcemiin, 1590. Bossu's "Travels through Louisiana," vol. i., p. 224. LawFon's "History of Carolina," p. 207. London, 1714. "Brevis s " Narratives of the Career of Hernando de Solo,'' etc., p. 124. Xe\v York, 1866. 46 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. drippings were strained and foiled 011 tlie fire until all the water was evaporated, and trie salt left in the bot tom of trie pots. Captain Komans asserts tliat the Indians never ate salt meats or foiled their food with salt. Nevertheless they had salt in abundance. ^Vlien deprived of it for a long time, he says an Indian " will frequently eat a pound of salt without anything else." 1 To the saline springs of Tennessee and Kentucky the natives constantly resorted from time immemorial, arid in large numbers, for the manufacture of this necessary season ing for food. They also obtained rock-salt from nat ural deposits near the mouth of the Mississippi Hiver. Of the MECHANICAL IABOKS of the aborigines--aside from, the construction of their tumuli, fortifications, fish-preserves, temples, public and private liouses, and places for feasting, dancing1, and religious exercises --it may be remarked that, in the manufacture of pottery, from its most careless expression in small terra-cotta pans, or gourd-shaped drin"king-cups, to its more substantial development in burial-vases, large, ornamented cooking-vessels and well-formed jars for the preservation of fruits and oils, the Southern Indi ans excelled. They had made fni'ther progress in the ceramic art than that attained by the ^Western and Northern tribes. Their pottery savored less of the archaic type, and ill form and ornamentation, as well as in smoothness and homogeiieousiiess of composition, gave evidence of superior taste and skill. The shapes of these fictile wares were also more varied. They understood and practised the art of mixing their well kneaded clay with pounded shells and gravel, so as to impart to the material greater tenacity and dura- ren- York, POTTERY, COPPER IMPLEMENTS, ETC. 47 bility. Tlie ornamentation, of the rims, necks, and. sides of this earthenware was varied, and often tasteful and ingenious. The use of tlie potter's "vvlieel seems to have been unknown. To tlie women was chiefly committed the manufacture of this pottery. Soapstone, in many localities, was the favorite material from which, "by means of flint implements, were fash ioned culinary utensils, both great and small. jSTo implements of iron and bronze existed at this early period, and. copper was used only to a limited extent. In its treatment that material was regarded rather in the light of a malleable stone, than as a metal. Its employment was confined almost exclusively to the manufacture of ornamental axes, goi'gets, pendants, ancl spindles, or points for piercing pearls. Procured, in a pure, native state--chiefly from the shores of Lake Superior--it was, while cold, hammered out into the desired shape. Heat was never applied, and all the implements and ornaments of this metal, which we have seen, show very plainly a laminated struutcre. Comparatively few copper articles have been found within the limits of Georgia, and most of these, as we shall hereafter observe, were obtained from ancient graves in the valleys of the Chattahoochee, the Etowah, and the Oostenaula. Gold and silver, to a limited extent, were employed in the fabrication of ornaments. Small masses of these precious metals were picked up by the natives in pockets, or gathered in the beds of streams flowing through atiriferous regions, aud perforated and worn as pendants. Gold beads--evidently not European in their manufacture--rudely hammered into round and oval shapes, with holes drilled through their centres or upper portions, have been, found in the Etowah 43 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN Valley, in the vicinity of the large mounds oil Colonel Tuinlin's plantation. In this connection, it is proper that we allude to the traces of early mining in Cherokee Georgia. In 1834, Colonels Merriwether and Lumsdeu, while engaged hi digging a canal ill Duke's-Creek Valley for the purpose of facilitating their mining operations, imcarthed a subterranean village consisting of thirty-four small cabins, located in a straight line extending up ward of three hundred feet. They were made of logs hewn at the ends and notched down, after the fashion of the rude log-huts of the present day. This hewing and notching had evidently been, done with sharp metallic tools, the marks being such as would hare been caused by a' chopping axe. Above these little houses--situated from fifty to one hundred yards from the principal channel of the creek, and embedded from seven to nine feet below the surface of the ground-- trees were growing from two to three feet in diameter. 1 The estimated age of these trees was somewhat over two hundred years. The violent changes often caused, ill their narrow valleys and along their yielding banks, by mountain-streams swollen "with rain or engorged by the dissolving snows of winter, may account for the inhumation of these cabins within a comparatively short period after their abandonment. In Valley-liiver Valley, the writer is informed,3 eleven old shafts have been found, varying in depth from ninety to one hundred feet. In 1854, one of them was cleaned, out, and at the depth of ninety f ;et the workmen found a windlass of post-oak, well hewn, 1 White's "Historical Collections of Georgia," p. 487. Stcplieiison's " Geol ogy niid Mineralogy of Georgia," p. 208. AthmU, Ga., ISVl. * MS. letter from Dr. Stephcnson. EVIDE3TCKS OP HAKI/r MIKING. 49 with an inch augur-hole bored through eacli end. Distinct traces appeared where it had been banded with iron. The crank and gudgeon-holes were still in excellent preservation. Another shaft, for twenty-five feet, passed through gneiss-rock. Its sides were scarred by the marks of the sharp tools used in for cing a passage through, this hard substance. There were no signs of Wasting. Below the water-level the casing-boards and timbers were sound, although dis colored by the sulphurets of copper and iron. Six miles southeast of this locality are five other shafts similar in age and construction. The trees growing in the mouths and upon the edges of these abandoned pits were not less than two hundred years old. The presence of iron and the marks of sharp metal lic tools prove that these ancient mining operations cannot be referred to the labors of the Indians. The narratives of the career of De Soto are filled with ac counts furnished by the natives of the pi'eseiice of gold in certain designated localities, and their exaggerated statements continually inflamed the cupidity of the adventurers who accompanied the Adelantado on his wild march from Puerto del Espiritu Santo to the broad prairies beyond the Mississippi. In plate xli. of the " BrevisNai'ratio " De Bry presents an extravagant and evidently imaginary illustration of the manner in which the natives gathered gold in the streams issuing from the Apalatcy Mountains. These gold and silverbearing mountains--if we rightly interpret the con fused map accompanying the work to which we have just alluded--were situated, somewhere in or near the northeastern part of Georgia, There is every reason to believe that De Soto passed through Nacoo- 50 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN ISDIAX8. ehee galley and thence pursued his wanderings by way of tlie Oostenaula or Etowah Valley to their conflu ence. There stood the ancient village of Chiaha, and there now stands the beautiful town of Rome. "While lingering among the mountains and valleys of North Carolina and Georgia, earnest an.d repeated inquiries were made by the Spanish adventurer re specting the existence of precious metals in that region. Parties were dispatched by him to examine the conntry and ascertain the precise places where the Indians were said to be engaged ill mining. While it does not appear from any of the narratives that De Soto arid his followers actually -underfoot any mining operations-- other than perhaps a limited examination of the surface of the ground--or- that they had with them tools and mechanical appliances which would have enabled them to have penetrated the bowels of the hills and utilized the ores which they contained, it is quite evident that they recognized this as an auriferous region and were greatly disappointed at their failure to secure a consid erable quantity of the coveted treasure. The question still recurs, Who sunk these shafts, and, in that early day, expended so much labor in ear nest quest for gold ? Dr. Brinton, in an article pub lished in the Historical J^tagazinef has collected, some authorities which suggest a probable response to the inquiry. So carried away was Lids de Velasco with the rep resentations made by the returned soldiers of De Soto's Expedition, with regard to the gold, silver, and pearls abounding in the province of" Cosa," that he dispatched his general, Tristan de Luna, to open communication with Cosa by the way of Peiisacola Bay. Three hun- 1 I'h-a Series, vo\ r., p. 137. ^r GEOKGIA. 51 tired Spanish soldiers of this expedition penetrated quite to tlie valley of the Coosa, in Northern Georgia and there passed the summer of 1560. Juan Pardo was subsequently sent by Aviles--the first Governor of Florida--to establish, a fort at the foot of the moun tains northwest of St. Augustine, in the province of the chief Coaba. It would seem, therefore, that the Span iards both knew and endeavored, at this early period, to avail themselves of the gold deposits in Upper Georgia. The German traveller, Johannes Lederer, who visited North Carolina and Virginia in 1069 and 1670, and AYrote an account of his adventures in Latin, asserts that the Spaniards were then -working gold and silver mines in the Appalachian Mountains. He avers that he saw specimens of the ore among the AVestern tribes, and brought samples of it bacfe -with him. ''Had I hud with me," he adds, " half a score of reso lute youths who would have stnclv to me, I would have pushed on to the Spanish mines." In 1690, -while mating a journey over the " Apalathean Mountains" for inland discovery and trade with the natives, Mr. James Moore was informed by the In dians that the Spaniards were at work upon mines within twenty miles of the place where he then wras. The Indians described to him the bellows and furnaces used by these miners, and offered to conduct him to the spot. A difference between himself and his guides, however, prevented his visiting these mines. 1 Subse quently Mr. Moore volxinteerecl to lead a party to these mines, but the scheme fell through. These authorities, if they do no more, intimate that in the seventeenth century it was believed that the 1 " Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society," vol. i., }>. 209. Charles ton, ISoY. 02 A3TTIQOTTIES OF THE SOUTHERN ISDIAXS. Spaniards were at work in this region seeking earnestly for gold, and enable us to account, with at least some degree of probability, for tliose physical traces of an cient mining observed by the early settlers of Upper Georgia--operations of no mean significance, and which cannot reasonably be ascribed either to the Indians or to the followers of De Soto. Returning from this digression, we wonld state that in the manufacture of articles of stone, bone, shell, wood, skin, and feathers, the ingenuity and skill of the primitive workmen found varied and interesting expression. The stone period is here richly repre sented. We have both chipped and polished stone implements of unusual diversity, beautiful material, and most creditable workmanship. A comparison be tween the tastes and labors of the Southern and North ern Indians in this, as well as in almost every other respect, results most favorably to the former. As our attention will, in subsequent chapters, be specially directed to an examination of these various articles and implements, it is necessary here only- to allude to the existence of spear and arrow points, pipes--plain, bird, and animal-shaped--axes grooved and nngrooved, perforated and ornamental, chipped and ground-- gouges, chisels, awls, knives, scrapers', smoothi^g-stones, mortars, pestles, crushing-stones, net-sinkers, tubes, pendants, gorgets, pins, sling-stones, discoidal stones, nut-stones, images, and numerous other articles. In their manufacture, flint, jasper, quartz, chalcedony, slate, steatite, hornblende, diorite, greenstone, soapstone, graywacke and hematite were principally em ployed. Great pains were often expended in their construction. For their pipes and discoidal stones the Cherokeas were famous. Many of the axes, and ar- PRIMITIVE CANOE UNEARTHED. Oo row and spear heads, are marvels of symmetry and beauty. The attention of the workers in shell was mainly directed to the manufacture of heads, headornaments, gorgets, armlets, wampum, pins and per forated disks. Upon the ornamentation of the gor gets nYUch labor and ingenuity were bestowed. Pearls, obtained from salt-water shells and. the fluviatile and lacustrine unionidce, were perforated 'by means of heated copper spindles, and strung and worn around the neck, arms, wrists, waist and ankles. Plates of mica were used as looking-glasses, and for the ornamentation of the walls of drinking-cups. In the latter case, circular, square, oval, arid diamondshaped pieces were pressed in the clay while still soft --the edges being slightly embedded. "When the ves sel became hard, their retention was insured. Boats--some of them large enough to convey forty persons--were made of the trunks of trees. The tree was felled, cut off at the desired length, and. hollowed out "by fire. Through its agency also, its sides were shaped, and both the interior and exterior of the canoe scraped and smoothed by means of shells and handaxes or gouges. Bark canoes were seldom if ever used.' They belong to colder waters. In 1845, while digging a canal on one of the riceplantations, on the Savannah River, located only a few miles distant from the city of Savannah, at a depth of three feet and a half below the surface of the 1 Smith's "History of Virginia," vol. i., p. 132. Richmond reprint, 1819. 54 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTIIKB2T IKDIAXS. swamp, the workmen came upon a canoe embedded in tlie soil. It answered to the description of what is familiarly known as a dug-out, and had been fashioned from the trunk of a cypress-tree (see illustration). A.bout eleven feet long and thirty inches wide, its depth was scarcely more than ten inches. Both bow and stern were strengthened, each toy a wooden torace kept in position toy wooden pins passing througli the sides of the canoe and entering the toraces at either end. This boat curved upward at either end, so that the toow and stern rose atoove the middle portion. Lo cated about three feet from the stem was seat nine inches wide, consisting of a rude cypress-plank. For its reception the sides of the canoe had toeen notched three inches toelow the gunwales, and it was further kept in position toy four wooden pins--two on each side--driven through the tooat and entering the seat at either end as in the case of the toow and stern toraces. The bottom was flat, the sides rouiicling. No ef fort had been made to form a keel. The toow and stern, were both pointed, and ziofc tmlike in their gen eral outlines, the latter toeing more tolunt than the for mer. At the top the sides were rather more than half an inch in thickness--increasing, however, as they descended and curved below the water-line. AVhen cleaned and dried, this canoe weighed sixty pounds, and could be transported with the greatest facility toy a single individual. The agency of fire had obviously been invoked in the construction of this lit tle boat. "While there were no marks of sharp cuttingtools, the evidence appeared conclusive'that the charred portions of the wood, both within and without, had been carefully removed toy rude incisive implements, probably of shell or stone. The plan of felling the tree MAKTJFAOTUTIE OF ANCIENT CANOES. OO and of hollowing out the log, as perpetuated in one, of Do Bry's illustrations,1 seems to have "been observed in this instance. Regarding the regularity with which the outlines and the relative thicknesses of the sides of this boat had been preserved, one could but admire the care and skill with which that dangerous element, fire, had been made subservient to the uses of the primitive boat-builder. It is entirely probable that the ordinary stone celts, chisels, gouges, scrapers, or simple shells, were the only implements at command for the removal of the charred surface, a.s the cypresstree was by degrees converted into the convenient dugout. In all likelihood., this scraping was done with a shell. Such is the intimation given in an early ac count of the manufacture of canoes by the Virginia Indians: " Mira est in Virginia cymbas fabricandi ratio; nam cum ferreis instrumentis ant aliis nostris similibus careant, eas tameii parare norunt nostris non minus commodas ad nauiqaudum cjuo lubet per flumina &. ad piscaiiduiu. Prjmum arbore aliqua crassa & alta delecta, pro cymba> quarn parare volunt inagnitudiue, ignern circa ems radices stimrna telInre in ambitu struunt ex arbore nrasco bcne resiccato & ligni assnlis paulatim ignem excitantes, lie flamma altius ascendat & arborig longitudiiiein minuat. Fsene adiista y setting fire to the foot of a cypress-tree, the fire continuing in the interior until it fell to the ground. " They then burned it off at the desired length. "When, the tree was burned suffi ciently for their purpose, they extinguished the fire with moist earth, and scraped it out with large shells, which are very thick. They then wash them with water in such a manner as to give them a fine polish. These canoes are sometimes twenty-five or thirty feet long, but they make of them various lengths according to the uses for which they are intended." * From Bossu's " Travels " we extract the following account: " Before the French came into Louisiana the Indians constructed their boats in the following man ner. They went to the banks of some rivers, which arc very numerous in this vast region, and which by their rapidity tear np by the roots the trees which stand 011 their banks. They took their dimensions for length and breadth, and accordingly chose such a tree as they wanted; after which they set fire to it, and as the tree burnt on they scraped away the live coals with a Hint or an arrow, and having sufficiently hollowed it out, they set it afloat. They are very well .skilled in constructing1 these little vessels upon their lakes and rivers. They employ them in time of Avar, and likewise load them with the furs and dried flesh which they bring back from their hunts." B French's new scries. London, IT'71. ANCIENT CANOES. 61 Compared with tlie boats figured by De Bi-y,1 or the ein&aum of lioberihausen, or that taken from the peat-moor of Mereurango, or that found in tile nook of Moringen, as represented in Keller's " Lake Dwell ings," the Savannah liiver canoe is more symmetrical and less trough-shaped than them all, and assimilates more nearly to the form of the modern canoe. The addition of the braces in the bow and stern is unusual, and the presence of the seat is by no means custom ary. The primitive river-craft of any people, no matter how low in the scale of civilization, is interesting, and, when the former occupants of the soil have passed away, leaving behind them relics at best but few and frail, we experience a sense of genuine satisfaction as we are thus furnished with the physical proof of the precise manner in which the Indians of Georgia con structed the light barks in which they committed themselves to the waters of the Savannah. This rude boat from the Savannah swamp, perhaps the very first ancient American canoe which has been un earthed, confirms our conjectures, and substantially verifies the earliest and most reliable representations which have been preserved of the Indian canoe of the Southern waters. Shawls, coverings, and articles of dress, were made of feathers, of buffalo, deer, and bear skins, and the hides of other animals, and were woven by hand out of certain fibres. Fishing lines and nets were formed, of the inner bark of trees, and convenient mats and. baskets fashioned with split canes, reeds, and rushes. Some of the feather mantles were beautifully 1 " Admiranda NaiTatio," plates xii., xiiu Francoforti ud ^rcrriurn. Be Bry, anno 1590. LL Brevis Xarratio," plates x.iii., xlii. Franeoforti ad Mcenuui. De Dry, anno 1591. ()2 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. wrought, and upon the well-dressed skins of animals were depicted various designs. Mortars and pestles, bows, spoons, and platters, scats or benches, ornamental posts used in dancing, and huge images were fashioned of wood. Shell-beads answered, as a medium of exchange or currency. Fire was produced by the vehement collision or rubbing together of two sticks. They prepared their skins by first soaking them in water. The hair was then removed by the aid of a bone or stone scraper. Deer's brains were next dis solved in water, and in this mixtxire the' skins were allowed to remain, until they became thoroughly satu rated. They were then gently dried, and, while drying, were continually worked by hand and. scraped with an oyster-shell or some suitable stone implement to free them from every impurity and render them soft and pliable. In order that they might not become hard, when exposed to rain, they were cured in smoke, and tanned with the bark of trees. Young Indian-corn, beaten to a pulp, answered the same purpose as the deer's brains." Laboriously-constructed dams and intricate w~ears were employed in the capture of fish. In PAINTING and EOCK-WKITING, the efforts of the Southern. Indians were confined to the fanciful and pro fuse ornamentation, of their own persons with various colors, in which'red, yellow, and black predominated, and to marks, signs, and figures, depicted on skins and scratched on wood, the shoulder-blade of a buffalo, or on stone. The smooth bark of a standing tree or the face of a rock was used to commemorate some feat of PAINTING AND ROCK--WRITING. Od arms, to indicate the direction and strength of a mili tary expedition, or the solemnisation of a treaty of peace. High up the perpendicular sides of mountaingorges, and at points apparently inaccessible, save to the fowls of the air, are seen, representations of the sun and moon,1 accompanied by rude characters, the signifi cance of "which is frequently unknown to the present observer. The motive which incited to the execution of work so perilous was, doubtless, religious in its character, and directly connected with the worship of the sun and his pale consort of the night. Coarsely done and barren of interest, this pictog raphy feebly expresses the rudest attempts at imita tion by means of colored chalks and the pointed frag ment of a flint. Ignorant of phonetic symbols and of letters, the ideographic characters which they employed were such as are more or less common to all semibarbarians." This primitive system of intaglios and picture-writing--designed to convey intelligence and record events--was supplemented by the use of wampuni, of which we will speak more at large hereafter. 3 The art of dyeing feathers, fibres, rushes, and splints of cane and wood, as well as the quills of birds and animals, to be employed in the manufacture of garments, coverings, mats, baskets, and belts, was generally un derstood and practised. The TRADE RELATIONS existing among these primi tive peoples were extensive. The principal articles of barter were copper, flint and stone implements, pipes, 1 Ilaywood's "Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee," p. 113. Nash ville, 1823. 2 &e Ewbank's " North American Rock-writing," p. 8. Morrisania, N. T., 1860. 3 Compare " Aneient Monumeiitsof the Mississippi Valley,' 1 ehap. xviii. Wash ington, 1848. "Journal of the Anthropological Institute of New York," vol. i., p. 5f, ft seq. Bradford's " American Antiquities," p. 1S2. New York, 1843. 64 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN" shell-ornaments, pearls, and skins. Galena, obsidian, mica, and small masses of native gold and silver also formed subjects of mercliandise. Between the coast and the interior a constant interchange of commodities was maintained. The beautiful jasper and flint arrow and spear points, stone pipes, discoidal stones, and various articles manufactured by the dwellers among the mountains, were readily sold to the coast-tribes, who gave in exchange for them, shells, pearls, and com modities, native to their region, and held in esteem by those at a distance. The primitive merchantmen en gaged in this traffic were held in special repute, were generously treated, and had at nil times safe-conduct through the territories even of those who were at war with each other. From the same stone grave in Xaeoochee Valley were taken, an ornamental copper axe from the shores of Lake Superior, a large cassia from the Gulf of ^Mexico, and stone weapons made of materi als entirely foreign to that locality. The sepulchral mounds and relic beds contain articles brought from a distance, and very frequently the finest specimens are obtained at the farthest remove from the spot whence the material used in their manufacture was procured. In this circumstance we trace the intervention of the merchantman, and his inclination, even at that remote period, to find special favor in the eyes of his customers. This early commerce among the !North American Indians is a subject full of interest, and Prof. C. Ran, in his recent article,entitled "Die Tnnachverhaltnisse der Eiiigebornen Nordame.rika's," published in the iirst quarterly number of the fifth volume of the " Archiv fur Anthropologie," has bestowed upon its con sideration much care and research. CHAPTER III. Tin: customs obtaining among the Creeks about the close of the last century, with respect to MARRIAGE and DIVORCE, are tlius detailed by Colonel Hawking : * Tlie suitor never applies in person, but sends his sister, mother or other female relative, to the female relations of the woman he desires to secure as his wife. Brothers and uncles on the maternal side, and some times the father, are consulted, but this is simply a matter of compliment, as neither their approval nor opposition is of any avail. If the match is regarded -with favor, a gracious answer is returned to the wom an who made the application. The bridegroom there upon sends a blanket and sxich articles of clothing as he possesses to the females of the bride's family. If accepted, the contract of marriage is concluded, and he may enter the house of his future wife as soon as he chooses. Having built himself a cabin, made a crop and gathered it in, hunted and brought home his game and placed every thing in the possession of his 1 "Sketch of the Creek Confederacy." Collections of the Georgia Historical Society, vol. iii., part 1, p. 73. Savannah, 1S48. I I 66 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHEEK INDIANS. wife, tlie preliminary ceremony ends, and the woman is bound. From the time of Ids first visit to the house of tlie woman until tlie termination of tlie ceremony, she is completely subject to his will in every particu lar. A man never marries a member of his own tribe. Marriage gives the husband no right over the property of the wife; and, in case of separation, she keeps the children, and all property belonging to them. Divorce occurs as a matter of mutual consent, or at the choice of either party--the man having the right to marry again at will, but the woman, except during the continuation of the marriage ceremony, being bound until the feasts of the jBoosTcetau of that year are over. As a general rule, adultery on the part of the fe male only is punished. The matter is taken in charge by the family or tribe of the husband. The members assemble, consult, and determine upon a course of ac tion. If the proof be clear, and they conclude to pun ish the offenders, they divide and proceed to appre hend them. One half goes to the woman's house and the remainder to the family house of the adulterer, or they all go together to eaeh place if they have so re solved. If the offenders are apprehended, they are beaten severely with sticks and then cropped. The hair of the woman is carried in triumph to the public square. If only one of the offenders be taken, satis faction is had of the nearest relative of the party who escaped. If both make their escape, and the family or tribe of the husband return home and lay down the sticks, the crime is forgiven. One family only, the " Wind " (Ho-tul-ul-gee), can take up the sticks a sec ond time. Should the offending parties succeed in ab senting themselves until the Boos-ke-tau is over, they are pardoned, because, at that solemn festival, uni- ADULTERY AND ITS PUNISHMENT. 67 versal forgiveness is proclaimed for all offences save murder. In a letter dated the 9th of June, 1733, Mr. Oglethorpe, speaking of the Indians in the vicinity of Sa vannah, says, " They abhor adultery, and do not ap prove of a plurality of wives." He further states that, where adultery had been committed, the injured hus band was entitled to his revenge by cutting off the ears of the adulterer; and, if physically unable to inflict this punishment, he had a right to kill him the first time lie could do so with safety. The Rev. Mr. Bolzius * records the fact that, on the 26th of March, 1734, an Indian (probably of the Yamacraw tribe) cut off both the ears and the hair of his wife, because she had been too familiar "with a white man. This he \avers to have been the usual punishment for adultery in vogue among the Indians in Southern Georgia. .Adultery among the Creeks, during Captain Homans's 2 sojourn among them, -was punished by severe flagellations, and the loss of the hair, nose, and ears of both parties. Sometimes the man's nose was spared. Of infidelity in the husband no notice seems to have been, taken, except in cases where he had in fringed upon the vested rights of another of the same sex; and then he was liable only to such punishment as the anger or ability of the injured husband might lead him to inflict. These marriage customs varied with almost every nation and tribe.3 The intervention of a priest to im- 1 "Extract of the Journals of Mr. Commissary Ton Reck," etc., p. 49. London, 1734. 2 " Concise Natural History of East and West Florida," p. 98. New York, 1775. 3 See Du Fratz's " History of Louisiana," vol. ii., p. 197. London, 1763. Bossu'3 "Travels," etc., vol. i., p. 232. London, 1771. Bartram's "Travels," p. 512. London, 1792. Lawson's " History of Carolina," p. 1S5. London, 1714. 68 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. part any tiling like solemnity to the contubernal rela tionship, thus established, appears never to have been thought of. The tie--such as it was--originated, in the fancy of the male, was at first sanctioned by the female friends of the woman, and in other cases by the cacique or head men of the tribe, and was dissolu ble at the option of either party. The Cherokees in the olden time are said to have had no laws against adultery. Speaking generally, it may be affirmed that the Southern Indians were nionogamoxis * for the time being. This, however, was simply a matter of choice, and not of compulsion. The Muscogulges formed a marked exception to this rule. With them polygamy obtained with the utmost latitude--the first wife being esteemed the queen or superior, and the others her hand-maids and associ ates.' "While polygamy was allowed among the Creeks, Captain Romans * declares that it was not usually practised. The only ceremonies attendant upon their marriages consisted in making some presents to the parents of the bride, and in feasting at the hut of the wife's father. Intermarriages of first cousins was not permitted. If an Indian debauched his sister or any very near re lative, his body was burnt and his ashes thrown into Bric-keU's " Natural History of North Carolina," p. 304. Dublin, 1737. JTaywood's " Natural and Aboriginal History of Tennessee," p. 276. Nashville, 1823. Adair'a " History of the North American Indians," p. 138. London, 1775. Hennepin's " Continuation of the New Discovery," chap. xvii. London, 1698. 1 " Singuli singulas habent nxores," says De Bry. " Regibus autcm binas ant teriias habcre permissum : Sola tamen primum ducta colitur & pro Reghm agiioscitm." " Brevis Narratio," p. 4. Francoforti ad Sltonuin, anno 1591. Cabeca de Vaca says : " Every mail has an acknowledged wife. The physk-ians arc allowed more freedom; they may have two or three wives, among whom exist the greatest friendship and harmony." 2 Bartram's " Travels," p. 513. London, 1792. 3 " Concise Natural History of East and West Florida," p. SV. London, IT'75. ABSENCE OF MORALITY. 69 the river. lie was regarded as tmworthy to remain upon the earth. Among the Carolina tribes the hus band had a right to sell his wife. He changed his wife at pleasure, and had. at the same time as many wives as he was able to maintain. 1 Comparatively little virtue existed among the un married women. Their chances of marriage "were not diminished but rather augmented by the feet that they had been great favorites, provided they had avoided conception during their years of general pleasure. The husband never pretended to recognize any restraint as , imposed by the marital relation, but indulged his fan cies as inclination prompted or opportunity offered. The wife, on the contrary, was deterred, by fear of public punishment, from the commission of indiscretions. Al though these marriages were in great measure tempo rary in their character--constituting alliances of fancy and convenience--it was not uncommon for parties to live together until extreme old age in comparative peace and affection. By the side of the aged Mico Tomo-chi-chi, as thin and. "weak, he lies upon his blan ket, hourly expecting the summons of the pale-king, we see the sorrowing form of his old -wife, Scenauki, bending over and fanning him with a bunch of feathers. 3 In all verity could the Indian husband say of his wife, as Petruchio affirmed of Catherine : " I will bo master of wliat is mine own ; She is my goods, my chattels ; she is my house, My household stuff, my field, my barn, My horse, my ox, my ass, my anything." 1 Laws-son's "History of Carolina," p. 1ST. London, 1V14. 2 WhHefield's "Journal at Savannah," p. 2. London, 1739. "Historical Sketch of Tomo-chi-chi," by Charles O.Jones, Jr., p. lO1!. Albany, 1868. 70 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIAK3. Doomed to perpetual drudgery and to that subor dinate position to which woman is always consigned where civilization and religion are not, she was little else than a beast of burden, busied with coolving, the manufacture of pottery, mats, "baskets, moccasins and tunics, a tiller of the ground, a nurse for her own children, and at all times a servant to the commands and passions of the stronger sex. ._.- gjj^jjj Tjavren, passing with great ease through the perils of childbirth, nourishing her offspring from her own breasts, and permitting the child to suck until it was well grown, with her own hands attending to every want of the infant, and guarding well its cleanliness as it lay lashed to its board cradle, it came to pass that the Indian mother seldom had a lame or deformed or sickly child. At an early age the boys were exercised in running, in playing ball, and in the use of the bow and arrow. Prizes were offered for -which they con tended ; and, while quite young, they were made fami liar with the secrets of hunting and fishing. 1 Protracted ceremonies involving isolation, fasting, purgation, self-denial, and ablution, were religiously observed under the personal supervision of the Is-tepuc-cau-chau-thluc-co, or great leader, before the Creek youth was admitted to the dignity and privileges of manhood. Before going to war the young men were compelled, by the observance of certain formalities and prescribed duties, to prepare themselves to receive the war-physic--a charm against all ills.2 Of the COSTUME and OKUAMEKTS of the Southern COSTUME AND OP.NAME^TS. *T1 Indiana, tlie following early accounts furnish general descriptions : As De Soto nearcd Coca, the cacique came out to receive liim at tlie distance of two cross-bow sliots from the town, "borne in. a litter oil the shoulders of his principal men, seated on a cushion, and covered with a mantle of marten-skins of the size and shape of a wom an's shawl. On his head he wore a cliadern of plumes, and he was surrounded by many attendants singing and playing upon flutes. At Qiiizquiz the great cacique Aquisco, accompa nied ~by two hundred canoes filled "with armed men, waited upon him. These warriors were painted with ochre, and wore great bunches of white and colored plumes. Standing erect in the canoes, they held in their hands bows and arrows and also feathered shields with which they sheltered the oarsmen on either side. The barge conveying the cacique, and those containing his attendant chiefs, had awnings at the poop under which they sat. The cacica of Cutifachique, when she came out of her town to cross the river and extend to the Adeltmtado the hospitalities of her province, was borne to the water's edge in a chair. There she en tered her canoe, over the stern of which was spread an awning. A mat lay extended in the bottom, and above this were two cushions upon which she sat. In the boats which escorted her was carried much clothing of the country, consisting of shawls and skins. These shawls were made, some from the bark of trees and others of feathers, white, gray, vermilion and yellow, rich and suitable for winter. The deer-skins of which moccasins, leggings, and coverings were fabricated, were well dressed and ornamented with many-colored de signs. The cacica wore strings of pearls, one of which 72 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTIIEEN INDIANS. slis tlirew aroxiRd. De Soto's neclc, exchanging with liim " many gracious words of fri ^clslup and cour tesy." ' Cafoef their enemy dryed. Their heads and shoulders are painted red with the roote focone brayed to powder, mixed with oyle, this they hold in sommer to preserue them from the heate, and in winter from the ceild. Many other formes of paintings they vse, but he is the most gallant that is the most monstrous to behold." The shoes of the natives were made of buckskin, reinforced at the bottom. They were fastened, on with running strings, the skin being drawn together like 78 AKTIQT7ITIES OF THE SOUTIIEKN" INDIANS. a purse, on the top of the foot, and tied round the ankle.' During the summer the Louisiana Indians Avore Tout little clothing--that of the men consisting of a small apron of deer-skin dressed white or dyed black, the latter color being reserved exclusively for the chiefs. The cloaks of the women were made of the bark of the mulberry-tree, or of the feathers of swans, turkeys, and ducks. The bark of young mulberryshoots was first dried in the sun, and then beaten so as to cause all the woody parts to fall off. The remaining threads were then beaten a second time, and bleached by exposure to the dew. "When well whitened, they "were spun or twisted into thread. Garments were woven, in the following manner. Two stakes were planted in the ground about a yard and a half apart. A. cord was then stretched from the one to the other, to which were fastened double threads of bark. By hand other threads were curiously interwoven, so as in the end to form a cloak about a yard square, with wrought borders round the edges. Young boys and girls went quite naked. At the age of eight or ten years the girls put on a little fringed petticoat made of threads of mulberry-bark. The boys remained uncovered until they attained a similar age. " Some women," says Du Pratz,' " even in hot weather, have a small cloak wrapt round like a waist coat ; but when, the cold sets in they wear a second, the middle of which passes under the right arm, and the two ends are fastened over the left shoulder, so DEE3S OF LOUISIANA INDIAKS. 79 that the two arms are at liberty and one of the breasts is covered. They wear nothing on their heads; their hair is suffered to grow to its full length, except in the fore-part, and. it is tied in a cue behind in a kind of net made of mulberry threads. They carefully pick out all the hairs that grow upon any part of their body." The shoes of the men and. women were fashioned after the same pattern, and were seldom worn except upon a journej'. They were made of deer-skin, the sole and upper leather being of the same piece, and sewed together on the upper part of the foot. The moccasin was cut about three inches longer than the foot, and folded, over the toes. The quarters were about nine inches high, and fastened round the leg like a buskin. liar-rings of shell, and necklaces " com posed of several strings of longish or roundish kernelstones, somewhat resembling porcelaine," formed the customary female ornaments. With the smallest of these " kernel-stones " they decorated their furs, gar ters, and shoes. In early youth, females were tattooed across the uosc and often down the middle of the chin. Some were pricked all over the upper part of the body, not excepting from the operation even their sen sitive breasts. During the winter the men covered themselves with a shirt made of two dressed deer-skins, and wore breeches of the same material, which protected the legs. In severe weather a buffalo-skin, dressed with the wool on, was kept next the body to increase the warmth. The young men were very fond of dress, vying with each other in the decorations upon their vest ments, painting themselves profusely with vermilion, I i SO ANTIQUITIES OE THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. wearing bracelets of tlie ribs of cleer--softened in boiHng water, then bent into the required shape, and finally polished so that they resembled ivory--fan cying necklaces like the women, carrying fans in their hands, clipping off the hair from the crowns of their heads and substituting a piece of swan's-skiii with the down upon it, fastening the finest "white feathers to the hairs which remained, and suffering a part of their hair to grow long, so that they could "weave it into a cue hanging over the left ear. Such is the portrait which has been preserved of the Louisiana youthful swells, more than a hundred years ago. AVarriors who had rendered themselves famous by some gallant exploit, caused a tomahawk to be pricked on the. left shoulder. Underneath was indelibly im printed the hieroglyphic sign of the conquered nation. The figure intended to be pricked was first drawn on the skin, which was then punctured to the depth of the teutli of an inch, and powdered charcoal rubbed in. Marks thus caused were never effaced. Ear-rings were "Worn by the men; and, fastened to their belts, might be seen gourds with pebbles in them. The chief ornament of the king was a crown of feathers surmounting a black bonnet of net-work fast ened to a red diadem, about two inches broad, em broidered with kernel-stones. The feathers were white, about eight inches tall in front and half as high behind. The women fabricated girdles, garters, and collars for carrying burdens. They also embroidered \vith porcupine-feathers. Of the habit of the North Carolina Indians, Mr. Lawson ' writes: The winter dress of the women is " a hairy Match-coat in the nature of a Plad. . . At other 1 "History of Carolina,'' etc., p. 190. London, 1714. ATTIRE OH' CAKOUKA INDIANS. 81 times they have only a sort of Flap or Apron contain ing two Yards in Length and better than half a Yard deep. Sometimes it is a Deer-Skin dress'd white, and pointed or slit at the bottom, like Fringe. When this is clean, it becomes them very well. . . . " All of them, when ripe, have a small String round the. "Waste, to which another is tied and conies between their Legs, where always is a "Wad. of Moss against the Os piibis; but never any Hair is there to be found. Sometimes they wear Indian Shooes or Mog'g'izons, "which are made after the same manner as the Mens are. " The Hair of their Heads is made into a long Roll like a Horses Tail, and bound round with Honoak or Pore-elan which is a sort of Beads they make of the Conk-Shells. Others that have not this, make a LeatherString serve. The Indian Men have a Match-coat of Hair, Furs, Feathers, or Cloth, as the Women have. Their Hair is roll'd up on each Ear, as the AVomens, only much shorter, and oftentimes a Roll on the Crown of the Head or Temples, which is just as they fancy; there being no Strictness in their Dress. Betwixt their Legs comes a Piece of Cloth,1 that is tuck'd in by a Belt both before and behind. This is to hide their N"akelness. . . . They wear Shooes of Bucks, and some times Bears Skin, which they tan in an Hour or two, with the Bark of Trees boil'd, "wherein they put the Leather whilst hot, and let it remain a little while, whereby it becomes so qualify'cl as to eiidrrre "Water and Dirt without growing hard. These have no Heels, and are made as fit for the Feet, as a Glove is for the Hand, and are very easie to travel in when one is a lit tle us'd to them. . . . Their Feather Match-coats are very pretty, especially some of them which are made ex- ' Or wad of moss. Lsuvron, p. 203. 82 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. traordinary charming, containing several pretty Figures wrought in Feathers, making them seem like a fine Flower Silk-Shag; and when new and fresh, they be come a. Bed very well, instead of a Quilt. Some of another sort are made of Hare, Raccoon, Bever or Squir rel-Skins, which are very warm. Others again are made of the green Part of the Skin of a Mallard's Head, w]rich they sew perfectly well together, their Thread being either the Sinews of a Deer divided very small, or Silk-Grass. AVhen these are finish'd they look very finely, though they must needs be very troublesome to make. . . . Their Dress in Peace and War is quite dif ferent. Besides, when they go to "War, their Hair is comb'd out by the "Women, and done over very much with Bears Grease and red Root; with Feathers, ^Vings, Rings, Copper and Pealc or Wampum, in. their Ears. Moreover, they buy Vermillion of the Indian Traders, wherewith they paint their Faces all over red, and commonly make a Circle of Black aboxit one Eye, and another Circle of "White about the other, whilst others beclawb their Faces with Tobacco-Pipe Clay, Lamp-black, black Lead and divers other Colours which they make with the several sorts of Minerals and Earths that they get in diiferent Parts of the Country where they hunt and travel. When these Creatures are thus painted, they make the most frightful Figures that can be imitated by Men, and seem more like Devils than Humane Creatures. You may be sure that they are about some Mischief, when you see them thus painted ; for in all the Hostilities which have ever been acted against the English at any time, in several of the Plan tations of America, the Savages always appear'd in this Disguize, whereby they might never after be discovered or known by any of the Christians that should happen OK^AM-M^-TTS OF CAROLINA IKDIAKS. 83 to see them after they had made their Escape ; for it is impossible ever to know an Indian under these Colours, although he has been at your House a thousand times, and you know him at other times as well as you do any Person living. A.S for their AVomen, they never use any Paint on their Faces. . . . " Some of the Indians wear great Bobs in their Ears, and sometimes in the Holes thereof they put Eagles and other Birds Feathers for a Trophy. When they kill any Fowl, they commonly pluck off the downy Feathers and stick them all over their Heads. Some (both Men and AVoinen) "wear great Necklaces of their Money, made of Shells. . . . They oftentimes make of this Shell a sort of Gorge, which they wear about their Neck in a String; so it hangs on their Col lar, whereon sometimes is engraven a Cross, or some odd sort of Figure which conies next in their Fancy." ' De P>rahm 2 asserts that the South Carolina tribes, about the middle of the last century, had, among themselves, no distinction of dress. They painted their faces red in token of friendship, and black, in expression of warlike intentions. In common with their more northern and southern neighbors they or namented their hair, ears, and necks with feathers, bobs and beads, wore mantles and breech-cloths, and used leather inacksins. " Their cloathing," says Thom as Ash, consists of the " Skins of the Bear and Deer, the Skin drest after their Country Fashion, sometimes with black and red Clieguers coloured." 3 Captain Bernard Romans observed cloth made out 1 Compare " Xatural History of North Carolina," etc., by the wonderful plagia rist, John Brickell, M. D., p. 812, ft aeq. Dublin, 1737. a " Documents connected with the History of South Carolina," edited by riowden Charles Jennett AVeston, p. 220. London, 1856. " " Carolina," etc., by T. A.--, Gent., p. 35. London, 1682. 84 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. of the tart of a species of Morus, the root of the tree being used to dye it yellow. " Buffaloe's "wool," he adds, " furnishes a material for a useful manufac ture. They likewise make "blankets and other cover ings out of the feathers of the breasts of wild turkies by a process similar to that of our wig-makers when they knit hair together for the purpose of making wigs." ' Daring the spring of 1811, embedded in the flooring of a copperas cave, in "Warren County, West Tennessee, two human bodies--the one male and the other female --were found. They were evidently Indians, and had been interred in curiously-wrought baskets made of cane, with coverings of the same material fitting over their tops. " The flesh of these persons," says Mr. Haywood,* " was entire and undecayed, of a brown, dry ish colour produced by time, the flesh having adhered closely to the bones and sinews. Around the female, next her body, was placed a well-dressed deer skiu. Next to this was placed a nig, very curiously wrought, of the bark of a tree and feathers. The bark seemed to have been formed of small strands, well twisted. Around each of these strands feathers were rolled, and the whole woven into a cloth of firm texture after the manner of our common coarse fabrics. This rug was about three feet wide and between six and seven feet in length. The whole of the ligaments thus framed of bark -were completely covered by the feath ers, forming a body of about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, the feathers extending about one-C|uarter of an inch in length from the strand to which they were confined. The appearance was highly diversified by HUM A If BODIES IN A CAVE I^f TENUESSEE. 85 green, blue, yellow and black, presenting different shades of color when reflected upon by the light in dif ferent positions. The next covering was an undressed deer skin, around which was rolled, in good order, a plain shroud mamifactured after the same order as the one ornamented with feathers. This article re sembled very much in its texture the bags generally used for the purpose of holding coffee exported from the Havaima to the United States. The female had in her hand a fan formed of the tail feathers of a turkey. The points of these feathers were curiously bound by a buckskin string, well dressed, and were thus closely bound for about one inch from the points. About three inches from the point they were again bound by another deer skin string, in such a manner that the fan might be closed and expanded at pleasure. Between the feathers and this last binding by the string, were placed, around each feather, hairs which seem to have been taken from the tail of a deer. This hair was dyed of a deep scarlet red, and was one-third, at least, longer than the hairs of deer's tail in this climate gen erally are. The male was interred sitting in a basket, after' the same manner as the former, with this exception, that he had no feathered rug, neither had he a fan in his hand. The hair, which still remained on their heads, was entire. That of the female was of a yel low cast, and of a very fine texture, . . . The fe male was, when she deceased, of about the age of fourteen. The male was somewhat younger. The cave in which they were found abounded in nitre, copperas, alum and salts. The whole of this covering-, with the baskets, was perfectly sound, without any marks of decay." 80 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTIIEKN INDIANS. Thus have the conserving properties of the dust of this cave guarded from disintegration not only the forms, hut even the clothing of these primitive peo ples, offering them almost unchanged for the inspec tion of a later and not incurious age, placing in our hands the fabrics they wove, the skins they dressed, the colors and fans in which they delighted, and affording physical confirmation of the fidelity of at least some of the accounts furnished by the early "ob servers. Referring to the tribes then occupying the territory granted to the colony of Georgia, Mr. Oglethorpe, shortly after the settlement of Savannah, declares that " they, as the ancient Grermans did, anoint with oil and expose themselves to the sun, which occasion's their skins to be brown of color. The men paint them selves of various colors, red, blue, yellow and black. The men wear generally a girdle with a piece of cloth drawn through their legs and turned over the girdle both before and behind, so as to hide their nakedness. The women wear a kind of petticoat to the knees. Both men and women in the winter wear mantles something less than two yards square, which they "wrap round their bodies as the Romans did their toga, generally keeping their arms bare ; they are sometimes of woollen bought of the English, sometimes of furs which they dress themselves. They wear a kind of pumps \vhich they call moccasins, made of deer skin, which they dress for that purpose." * " Formerly," says Adair,2 " the Indians made very handsome carpets. They have a wild hemp that grows about six feet high in open, rich, level lands, 1 Salmon's " Modern Histor " Hiatoi-v of the American 1 SPINNING AND WEAVING. 8I and which usually ripens in July; it is plenty on our frontier settlements. When it is fit for use, they pull, steep, peel and beat it; and the old women spin it off the distaffs with wooden machines, having some clay on the middle of them to hasten the motion. When the coarse thread is prepared, they put it into a frame about six feet square, and, instead of a shuttle, they thrust through the thread with a long cane, having a large string through the web, which they shift at every second course of the thread. When they have thus finished their arduous labour, they paint each side of the carpet with such figures of various colours as their fruitful imaginations devise; particularly the images of those birds and beasts they are acquainted '.with; and likewis eof themselves, acting in their social and martial stations." lie was informed that the Muscogees, time out of mind, passed the woof with a shuttle, " having a couple of threddles which they move "with the hand so as to enable them to make good dispatch, something after our manner of weav ing." The \vomen were the manufacturers of these fabrics. Buffalo's wool was extensively used for spin ning and weaving. Thev Choctaws made " turkeyfeather blankets with the long feathers of the neck and breast of that large fowl." The inner end of the feather was twisted and made fast in a strong double thread of hemp or coarse twine made of the inner bark of the mulberry-tree. These threads were then worked together after the manner of a fine netting. The long and glittering feathers imparted to the out side of the blanket a pleasing appearance. Such fab rics "were quite warm. This writer also confirms the 88 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. use of breech-cloths, short petticoats, moccasins, and head-ornaments of feathers. 1 Various clays, and the juices of roots, barks, berries and plants, were employed in painting their persons and dyeing their manufactures. Tassels of the hair of deer, colored reel, were held in special esteem.2 Not only wore the ears slit for the reception of in flated bladders, eagles' claws, feathers and various ornamental pendants, but in some instances the nip ples and under lips were bored so that canes and other matters for personal adornment might be introduced and worn.8 The nose was perforated to admit of the suspension of ornaments from the cartilaginous wall "which separates the nostrils. It would appear that lip-stones (called by the Spanish Tiezote and by the Mexicans teutetl^) were worn, at least to a limited extent. Without multiplying these references, we are suffi ciently assured of the fact that, in the ornamentation of their skins, in the manufacture of shell, stone, bone, wood, hair, and feather pendants, and in the fabrica tion of skin garments fringed and curiously colored, and of carpets and shawls made of fibre and feathers, a marked similarity existed among the Southern tribes. It is also evident that the manner of wearing these articles of clothing and of personal adornment was, in its general features, common to them all. "We per ceive that these Indians had advanced beyond that rudest stage when the undressed hide--stripped from the body of the slain wild animal and thrown around i Travels," pp. 499-502. London, 17S2. Honncpiu'a abeija d 8 Ibid., pp. 75--7' EUROPEAK FABKICS EAGKKLY SOT7GHT. 89 the shoulders--constituted the only protection against the inclement seasons, and that, in the manufacture of their feather coverings and. in the decoration of their persons and garments, considerable taste was some times exhibited. At an early period, the natives recognized the superiority of the European commodities, and eagerly exchanged their coarse fabrics for the strouds, blan kets and trinkets exhibited by the white traders. f. I CHAPTER IV. Music and Musical Instruments.--Dnncing.--Hames.--Gambling.--Festivals.-- Divisions of the Year.--Counting.--Funeral Customs. THE Southern Indians were much addicted to OAIIKS, DIVERSIONS, FESTIVALS, and DANCING. It has been quaintly remarked that man is the only animal that laughs, and we find in all ages, and among all peoples, how limited soever their resources, or narrow their avenues to' pleasure, special attention has ever been paid to the subject of pastimes arid amusements. During periods when the physical development and active training of the human body were eminently ne cessary for individual protection, subsistence, and a toleration of the dangers and privations incident to the precarious and exposed mode of life, the games in vogue were decidedly muscular in their character, and were conducted in the open air. On occasions of feasting and dancing, the music, both instrumental and vocal, was of that simple, primitive kind, adapted to mark the time required for the saltatory movements in which the performers indulged. Measured sounds there were, but melody and harmony were wanting. The cane flute, the drum and the rattle, constituted the principal musical instruments in vogue among the Southern MUSIC A"ND MUSICAL IHSTBUMENTS. 91 tribes. The form of tlie decorated reed-flute or recorder ' has been preserved for our information, and we are also familiar with the shape of the hand-rattle." " For their mnsicke," says Captain John Smith,3 " they vse a tkicke Cane on which they pipe as on a Recorder. For their warres they haue a great deepe platter of wood. They cover the inouth thereof with a skin, at each corner they tie a walnut, which meeting on the backside neere the bottome, with, a small rope they twitch them to gether till it be so taught and stiffe, that they may beat vpon it as vpon a drumme. But their ehiefe instru ments are Rattles made of small gourds or Pumpeon's shels. Of these they haue Base, Tenor, Countertenor, Meane and Treble. These, mingled with their voyces sometimes twenty or thirtie together, make such a ter rible noise as would rather affright then delight any man." Mr. Bartraiu" asserts that the Southern Indians were all fond of music and dancing, the music being both vocal and instrumental. Among the musical instru ments he enumerates the tambour, the rattle-gourd, and a kind of flute made of the joint of a reed, or of a deer's tibia. The last he pronounces a howling instrument, producing, instead of harmony, "a hideous, melancholy discord." With the tambour and rattle, however, ac companied by sweet, low voices, he confesses himself well pleased. These gourd-rattles contained corn, beans, or small pebbles, and were shaken by hand or struck against the ornamental posts which marked the dancing-ring, in exact time with the movements of the performers. Large earthen pots, tightly covered * with 1 " Brevis Narratio," plate xxxvii. a " Admiranda Narmtio," plate xviii, 3 "True Travels," etc., vol. i., p. 136. Richmond reprint, 1819. 4 " Travels," etc., p. 502. London, 1792. < BriekeM's "Natural History of North Carolina," p. 328. Dublin, 1737. Beverly says that these earthen drums were half-full of water. " Uistory of Vir ginia," book iii., p 55. London, 1705 92 ANTIQUITIES OF THE SOUTHERN INDIAN'S. dressed deer-skins, answered, as drums. The shells of terrapins were also fastened to the ankles or suspended from the waist-belts. These being partially filled with small stones or beans, with every motion of the body, gave utterance to rattling sounds. The leather stock ings of the young dancing-women of the Creeks were " hung full of the hoofs of the roe-deer, in form of bells, in so much as to make them sound exactly like casta- gnettes." Captain Romans counted four hundred and ninety- three of these horn-bells attached to one pair of stock ings. Nine women, whose hose "were similarly fur nished, were present at the dance. Allowing the same number of these tinkling ornaments to each, we will perceive, by easy calculation, that one thousand one hundred and ten deer must have been killed"to furnish these women, with their dancing-bells. These musical instruments were supplemented by voices plaintive or vehement, slow or rapid, as best accorded with the character of the dance. Their songs, whether of "war or devotion, harvest or hunting, consisted of but few words and scanty intonations, repeated in the most monotonous way. AVhen. Ave turn to the music and poetry of these peoples, we enter indeed upon a barren field, with, scarcely any thing to provoke inquiry or re ward investigation. Iii the vicinity of the village was a spot specially prepared for and devoted to the dance. Here a fire was nightly kindled, and all who had a mind to be merry, assembled each evening. 1 In plate xviii. of the " Briefe and True Report of the New-found Land of Virginia, made into English by Thomas Harlot," we have a lively representation of a "Admiranda Narratio,'' plate xx. 1 DANCING. 03 public dance--the occasion a great and solemn feast, to which the inhabitants of neighboring towns had been invited--the place, a level spot in the midst of a broad plain, circular in shape, about which are planted in the ground posts " earned with heads like to the faces of nonnes couered with thej'r vayles," the centre being occupied by " three of the fayrest Virgins of the companie, which, imbrassinge one another, doe, as yt wear, turne abowt in their dancinge." Around these, and following the line of the posts, fancifully attired, and bearing in their hands the branches of trees and gourdrattles, with which, they keep time by striking them against the posts, are wildly singing and dancing, in. the cool of the evening, the natives assembled for the celebration of this " solemne feaste." 1 Many of these dances were of a purely social char acter, and were participated in every night by way of amusement. Others were designed, by violent exer cise, to prepare the actors " to endure fatigue, and im prove their wind." * Others still -were had in com. memoration of war, of peace and of hunting ; others in the early spring when the seed was sown, others when the harvest was ended ; others--wild, and teirible--in presence of captured victims doomed to tor ture and death ; while others, with slow and solemn movement and carefully-observed ceremonies, "were conducted in honor of some religious festival. There was scarce an occurrence of note, or a convocation of moment, which did not receive commemoration by a dance. Every occasion was provocative of this amuse ment. Referring to the dancing of the tribes composing 1 Ltiwson'a " Carolina," p. 175. London, 1714. 94 AKTIQITITIE3 OF THE SOUTHERN INDIANS. the Greek Confederacy, Mr. Bartram * writes: " They have an endless variety of steps, but. the most com mon, and that which I terra the most civil, and indeed the most admired and practised amongst themselves, is a slow, shuffling, alternate step ; both feet move forward, one after the other, iirst the right foot fore most, and next the left, moving one after the other, in opposite circles, i. e., first a circle of young men, and, within, a circle of young women moving to. gether opposite ways, the men with the course of the sun. and the females contrary to it ; the men strike their arm with the open hand, and the girls clap hands and raise their shrill, sweet voices answering an ele vated shout of the men at stated times of termination of the stanzas ; and the girls perform an interlude or chorus separately. " To accompany their dances they have songs of different classes, as martial, bacchanalian and amorouSj which last, I must confess, are extravagantly libidi nous ;" and they have moral songs which seem to be the most esteemed and practised, and answer the pur pose of religious lectures." The Choctaws were distinguished above their neighbors for their poetry and music. Between, their towns existed great rivalry in the composition of songs for dances, and each year, upon the solemnization of the Busk, at least one new song was produced. Captain Smith thus describes a dance made for his entertainment by Pocahontas during the absence of her father: " In a fair, plain Field they made a Fire, before -which he sat down upon a Mat, when suddenly amongst the Woods was heard such a hideous Noise ," etc., p. 503. London, 1V92. Bossu's account of the dance of impudicity. " Travels," vol. i., DAXCE OF POCAHONTAS. 95 and shrieking tliat tlie English betook themselves to their Arms, and seized on two or three Old Men by them, supposing Powliatan, with all his Power, was coming to surprize them. But presently Pocahontas came, willing him to kill her, if any hnrt were intended ; and the beholders, which were Men, "Women and Childi-en, satisfied the Captain that there -was no such matter. Then presently they were presented with this Antick : thirty young M^omen came naked out of the Woods, only covered behind and before with a few Green Leaves, their Bodies all painted, some of one color, some of another, but all differing; their Leader had a fair pair of Buck's Horns on her Head and an Otter's Skin at her Grirdle, and another at her Arm, a Quiver of Arrows at her Back, a Bow and Ar\rows in her Hand. The next had in her Hand a Sword, another a Club, another a Potstick; all of 'em being Horned alike. The rest were all set out with their several Devices. These Fiends with most Hel lish Shouts and Cries, rushing from among the Trees, cast themselves in a Ring about the Fire, Singing and Dancing with most excellent ill variety, oft falling into their infernal pa,ssions, and then solemnly betaking themselves again to Sing and Dance; having spent near an hour in this J^Tascarodo, as they enter'd, in like manner they departed." In plate xxxviii. of the " Brevis !Narratio," we see nineteen of these dancing-girls moving in a circle and singing the praises of the king and queen. Their steps are more graceful and their motions far less violent and irregular than those practised in religious dances, such, for example, as were observed upon the occasion of the sacrifice of the first-born. 1 96 ANTIQUITIES OP THE SUUTHEKN" INDIANS. The great game upon which the Southern Indians staked both personal reputation and property, was the c7iuny7ce-gayne. It was played by the warriors, and with those discoidal stones, the symmetry and beauty of which have attracted so much attention. So impor tant was this amusement, so general the indulgence in it, and so desperate the betting, that we have deemed it proper to devote a separate chapter to its history and conduct. In ball-play one village or tribe was often arrayed against the other, and the contest, although generally good-natured, was prosecuted with so much vigor and excitement, that the players sometimes encountered blows and tumbles which entailed severe bruises and broken limbs. This game was esteemed noble and manly; and, in its exercise, involved feats of strength and agility. Youths of both sexes were frequently engaged, and the principal matches were had in the fall of the year. One chief challenges another to the contest. They meet and make up the game, each se lecting from his own tribe an equal number of contest ants. Upon the appointed day the respective parties meet and lay off the ground upon some plain agreed upon, in the vicinity of a town. Huch property is staked upon the issue, and this is deposited in a pile. Each party is then addressed by its chief, who admon ishes fair play and animates the contestants with the hope and glory of beating their antagonists. The chiefs take no active part in the sport, but, occupying a suitable position, act as judges. The players arrange themselves in the centre of the ball-ground, and the game proceeds. From several accounts descriptive of the manner in which the game was played, we select the BALL--PLAT. 97 following, furnished by Mr. Adair : J " The ball is made of a piece of scraped deer-skin, moistened, and stuffed hard with deer's hair, and strongly sewed with deer's sinews. The ball-sticks are about two feet long, the lower end somewhat resembling the palm of a hand, and which are worked with, deer-skin thongs. Be tween these they catch the ball, and throw it a great distance, "when not prevented by some of the opposite party, who fly to intercept them. The goal is about five hundred yards in length ; at each end of it they fix two long, bending poles into the ground, three yards apart below, but slanting a considerable way outwards. The party that happens to throw the ball over these, counts one ; but if It be thrown underneath, ;.it is cast back and played for as usual. The gamesters are equal in number on each side; and at the begin ning of every course of the ball, they throw it up high in the centre of the ground, and in a direct line be tween the two goals. "When, the crowd of players pre vents the one who catched the ball, from throwing it off with a long direction, he commonly sends it the right course by tin. artful, sharp twirl. They are so exceedingly expert in this manly exercise, that, between the goals, the ball is mostly Hying the different ways, by the force of the playing sticks, without falling to the ground, for they are not- allowed to catch it with, their hands. It is surprising to see how swiftly they fly, when closely chased by a nimble-footed pursuer ; when, they are intercepted by one of the opposite party, his fear of being cut by the ball-sticks, commonly gives them an opportunity of throwing it, perhaps a hundred yards ; but the antagonist sometimes runs up 1 "History of American Indians," p. 400. London, 1775. 98 ANTIQUITIES OP THE SOUTHERN" INDIANS. behind, and by a sudden stroke daslies clown the ball. It is a very unusual thing to see them act spitefully in any sort of game, not even in this severe and tempting exercise. " Once, indeed, I saw some break the legs and arms of their opponents, by hurling them down, when on a descent and running at full speed. But I afterward understood, there "was a family dispute of long continu ance between them, that might have raised, their spleen as much as the high bets they had then at stake, which was almost all they were worth. The Choktah are exceedingly addicted to gaming, and frequently, on the slightest and most hazardous occasions, "will lay their all and as much as their credit can procure." The method- of playing this game did not materially differ among the Southern nations. 1 Foot-ball was also a manly and favorite diversion. These games "were followed, by feasting'and dancing in the public square. Trials of skill "were had. with the bow and arrow, the spear and the club. The Natchez wpmen amused themselves with tossing balls by hand, and in playing a game with bits of cane eight or nine inches long. " Three of these they hold loosely in one hand, and knock them to the ground with another ; if two of them fall with the round side undermost, she that played counts one ; but if only one, she counts nothing."" Lawsoa " mentions several gambling games, as be- 1 Compare Romans' " Concise Natural History of East aiic. West Florida," p. 79. N"ew York, 1775. Haywood's "Natural and Aboriginal History of Ten nessee," p. 285. Nashville, 1823. Bartram's " Travels," cte., p. 506. Lon don, 1792. " I>u Pratz' "History of Louisiana," vol. ii., p. 23