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diff --git a/19155.txt b/19155.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f768c35 --- /dev/null +++ b/19155.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3071 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Seminole Indians of Florida, by Clay MacCauley + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Seminole Indians of Florida + Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the + Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1883-84, + Government Printing Office, Washington, 1887, pages 469-532 + +Author: Clay MacCauley + +Release Date: September 1, 2006 [EBook #19155] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Carlo Traverso, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr + + + + + + + * * * * * + + + Smithsonian Institution--Bureau of Ethnology. + + THE SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA. + + by + + CLAY MacCAULEY. + + + * * * * * + +CONTENTS. + + Page. + + Letter of transmittal 475 + Introduction 477 + +CHAPTER I. + Personal characteristics 481 + Physical characteristics 481 + Physique of the men 481 + Physique of the women 482 + Clothing 482 + Costume of the men 483 + Costume of the women 485 + Personal adornment 486 + Hairdressing 466 + Ornamentation of clothing 487 + Use of beads 487 + Silver disks 488 + Ear rings 488 + Finger rings 489 + Silver vs. gold 489 + Crescents 489 + Me-le 489 + Psychical characteristics 490 + Ko-nip-ha-tco 492 + Intellectual ability 493 + +CHAPTER II. + Seminole society 495 + The Seminole family 495 + Courtship 496 + Marriage 496 + Divorce 498 + Childbirth 497 + Infancy 497 + Childhood 498 + Seminole dwellings-- + I-ful-lo-ha-tco's house 499 + Home life 503 + Food 504 + Camp fire 505 + Manner of eating 505 + Amusements 506 + The Seminole gens 507 + Fellowhood 508 + The Seminole tribe 508 + Tribal organization 508 + Seat of government 508 + Tribal officers 509 + Name of tribe 509 + +CHAPTER III. + Seminole tribal life 510 + Industries 510 + Agriculture 510 + Soil 510 + Corn 510 + Sugar cane 511 + Hunting 512 + Fishing 513 + Stock raising 513 + Koonti 513 + Industrial statistics 516 + Arts 516 + Industrial arts 516 + Utensils and implements 516 + Weapons 516 + Weaving and basket making 517 + Uses of the palmetto 517 + Mortar and pestle 517 + Canoe making 517 + Fire making 518 + Preparation of skins 518 + Ornamental arts 518 + Music 519 + Religion 519 + Mortuary customs 520 + Green Corn Dance 522 + Use of Medicines 523 + General observations 523 + Standard of value 523 + Divisions of time 524 + Numeration 525 + Sense of color 525 + Education 526 + Slavery 526 + Health 526 + +CHAPTER IV. + Environment of the Seminole 527 + Nature 527 + Man 529 + + + ILLUSTRATIONS + + Plate XIX. Seminole dwelling 500 + Fig. 60. Map of Florida 477 + 61. Seminole costume 483 + 62. Key West Billy 484 + 63. Seminole costume 485 + 64. Manner of wearing the hair 486 + 65. Manner of piercing the ear 488 + 66. Baby cradle or hammock 497 + 67. Temporary dwelling 502 + 68. Sugar cane crusher 511 + 69. Koonti log 514 + 70. Koonti pestles 514 + 71. Koonti mash vessel 514 + 72. Koonti strainer 515 + 73. Mortar and pestle 517 + 74. Hide stretcher 518 + 75. Seminole bier 510 + 76. Seminole grave 521 + 77. Green Corn Dance 523 + + + + +LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL + + + Minneapolis, Minn., _June_ 24,1884. + +SIR: During the winter of 1880-'81 I visited Florida, commissioned by +you to inquire into the condition and to ascertain the number of the +Indians commonly known as the Seminole then in that State. I spent part +of the months of January, February, and March in an endeavor to +accomplish this purpose. I have the honor to embody the result of my +work in the following report. + +On account of causes beyond my control the paper does not treat of these +Indians as fully as I had intended it should. Owing to the ignorance +prevailing even in Florida of the locations of the homes of the Seminole +and also to the absence of routes of travel in Southern Florida, much +of my time at first was consumed in reaching the Indian country. On +arriving there, I found myself obliged to go among the Indians ignorant +of their language and without an interpreter able to secure me +intelligible interviews with them except in respect to the commonest +things. I was compelled, therefore, to rely upon observation and upon +very simple, perhaps sometimes misunderstood, speech for what I have +here placed on record. But while the report is only a sketch of a +subject that would well reward thorough study, it may be found to +possess value as a record of facts concerning this little-known remnant +of a once powerful people. + +I have secured, I think, a correct census of the Florida Seminole by +name, sex, age, gens, and place of living. I have endeavored to present +a faithful portraiture of their appearance and personal characteristics, +and have enlarged upon their manners and customs, as individuals and as +a society, as much as the material at my command will allow; but under +the disadvantageous circumstances to which allusion has already been +made, I have been able to gain little more than a superficial and +partial knowledge of their social organization, of the elaboration among +them of the system of gentes, of their forms and methods of government, +of their tribal traditions and modes of thinking, of their religious +beliefs and practices, and of many other things manifesting what is +distinctive in the life of a people. For these reasons I submit this +report more as a guide for future investigation than as a completed +result. + +At the beginning of my visit I found but one Seminole with whom I could +hold even the semblance of an English conversation. To him I am indebted +for a large part of the material here collected. To him, in particular, +I owe the extensive Seminole vocabulary now in possession of the Bureau +of Ethnology. The knowledge of the Seminole language which I gradually +acquired enabled me, in my intercourse with other Indians, to verify and +increase the information I had received from him. + +In conclusion, I hope that, notwithstanding the unfortunate delays which +have occurred in the publication of this report, it will still be found +to add something to our knowledge of this Indian tribe not without value +to those who make man their peculiar study. + + Very respectfully, + + CLAY MacCAULEY. + + Maj. J. W. POWELL, + + _Director Bureau of Ethnology._ + + + * * * * * + +SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA. + +By Clay MacCauley. + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + + [Illustration: Fig. 60. Map of Florida.] + +There were in Florida, October 1, 1880, of the Indians commonly known as +Seminole, two hundred and eight. They constituted thirty-seven families, +living in twenty-two camps, which were gathered into five widely +separated groups or settlements. These settlements, from the most +prominent natural features connected with them, I have named, (1) The +Big Cypress Swamp settlement; (2) Miami River settlement; (3) Fish +Eating Creek settlement; (4) Cow Creek settlement; and (5) Cat Fish Lake +settlement. Their locations are, severally: The first, in Monroe County, +in what is called the "Devil's Garden," on the northwestern edge of the +Big Cypress Swamp, from fifteen to twenty miles southwest of Lake +Okeechobee; the second, in Dade County, on the Little Miami River, not +far from Biscayne Bay, and about ten miles north of the site of what +was, during the great Seminole war, Fort Dallas; the third, in Manatee +County, on a creek which empties from the west into Lake Okeechobee, +probably five miles from its mouth; the fourth, in Brevard County, on a +stream running southward, at a point about fifteen miles northeast of +the entrance of the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee; and the fifth, +on a small lake in Polk County, lying nearly midway between lakes Pierce +and Rosalie, towards the headwaters of the Kissimmee River. The +settlements are from forty to seventy miles apart, in an otherwise +almost uninhabited region, which is in area about sixty by one hundred +and eighty miles. The camps of which each settlement is composed lie at +distances from one another varying from a half mile to two or more +miles. In tabular form the population of the settlements appears as +follows: + + --------------+---+------------------------------------------------- + | | Population. + | +-------------------------------------+------+---- + | | Divided according to age and sex. | | T + | C | | | o + | a +-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+-----+Resume| t + | m |Below| | | | | Over| by | a + Settlements | p | 5 | 5-10|10-15|15-20| 20-60 | 60 | sex. | l + | s | yrs.| yrs.| yrs.| yrs.| yrs. | yrs.| | s + +---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----+--+--+---+--+---- + |No.|M.|F.|M.|F.|M.|F.|M.|F.|M.| F. |M.|F.| M.|F.|Tot. + --------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----+--+--+---+--+---- + 1. Big Cypress|10 | 4| 5|a2| 2|10| 4| 9| 2|15|b15 | 2| 3| 42|31|73 + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + 2. Miami River| 5 | 5| 4| 4| 4| 5| 3| 7| 5|10| 13 | 1| 2| 32|31|63 + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + 3. Fish Eating| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + Creek | 4 |a1| 1|--| 2|a2|--| 3| 1|a5|ab10| 4| 3| 15|17|32 + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + 4. Cow Creek | 1 | 2| 1|--|--| 1|--|--| 1| 4| 3 |--|--| 7| 5|12 + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + 5. Cat Fish | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | + Lake | 2 |--| 2| 3| 2| 4| 1| 4| 1|a4|ab5 | 1| 1| 16|12|28 + --------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----+--+--+---+--+---- + Totals {| |12|13| 9|10|22| 8|23|10|38| 46 | 8| 9|112|96|208 + {| +--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----+--+--+---+--+---- + {|22 | 25 | 19 | 30 | 33 | 84 | 17 | 208 | + --------------+---+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+----+--+--+---+--+---- + + _a_ One mixed blood. + _b_ One black. + +Or, for the whole tribe-- + + Males under 10 years of age 21 + Males between 10 and 20 years of age 45 + Males between 20 and 60 years of age 38 + Males over 60 years of age 8 + -- 112 + Females under 10 years of age 23 + Females between 10 and 20 years of age 18 + Females between 20 and 60 years of age 46 + Females over 60 years of age 9 + -- 96 + --- + 208 + +In this table it will be noticed that the total population consists of +112 males and 96 females, an excess of males over females of 16. This +excess appears in each of the settlements, excepting that of Fish Eating +Creek, a fact the more noteworthy, from its relation to the future of +the tribe, since polygamous, or certainly duogamous, marriage generally +prevails as a tribal custom, at least at the Miami River and the Cat +Fish Lake settlements. It will also be observed that between twenty and +sixty years of age, or the ordinary range of married life, there are 38 +men and 46 women; or, if the women above fifteen years of age are +included as wives for the men over twenty years of age, there are 38 men +and 56 women. Now, almost all these 56 women are the wives of the 38 +men. Notice, however, the manner in which the children of these people +are separated in sex. At present there are, under twenty years of age, +66 boys, and, under fifteen years of age, but 31 girls; or, setting +aside the 12 boys who are under five years of age, there are, as future +possible husbands and wives, 54 boys between five and twenty years of +age and 31 girls under fifteen years of age--an excess of 23 boys. For a +polygamous society, this excess in the number of the male sex certainly +presents a puzzling problem. The statement I had from some cattlemen in +mid-Florida I have thus found true, namely, that the Seminole are +producing more men than women. What bearing this peculiarity will have +upon the future of these Indians can only be guessed at. It is beyond +question, however, that the tribe is increasing in numbers, and +increasing in the manner above described. + +There is no reason why the tribe should not increase, and increase +rapidly, if the growth in numbers be not checked by the non-birth of +females. The Seminole have not been at war for more than twenty years. +Their numbers are not affected by the attacks of wild animals or noxious +reptiles. They are not subject to devastating diseases. But once during +the last twenty years, as far as I could learn, has anything like an +epidemic afflicted them. Besides, at all the settlements except the +northernmost, the one at Cat Fish Lake, there is an abundance of food, +both animal and vegetable, easily obtained and easily prepared for +eating. The climate in which these Indians live is warm and equable +throughout the year. They consequently do not need much clothing or +shelter. They are not what would be called intemperate, nor are they +licentious. The "sprees" in which they indulge when they make their +visits to the white man's settlements are too infrequent to warrant us +in classing them as intemperate. Their sexual morality is a matter of +common notoriety. The white half-breed does not exist among the Florida +Seminole, and nowhere could I learn that the Seminole woman is other +than virtuous and modest. The birth of a white half-breed would be +followed by the death of the Indian mother at the hands of her own +people. The only persons of mixed breed among them are children of +Indian fathers by negresses who have been adopted into the tribe. Thus +health, climate, food, and personal habits apparently conduce to an +increase in numbers. The only explanation I can suggest of the fact that +there are at present but 208 Seminole in Florida is that at the close of +the last war which the United States Government waged on these Indians +there were by no means so many of them left in the State as is popularly +supposed. As it is, there are now but 17 persons of the tribe over sixty +years of age, and no unusual mortality has occurred, certainly among the +adults, during the last twenty years. Of the 84 persons between twenty +and sixty years of age, the larger number are less than forty years old; +and under twenty years of age there are 107 persons, or more than half +the whole population. The population tables of the Florida Indians +present, therefore, some facts upon which it may be interesting to +speculate. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Personal Characteristics. + + +It will be convenient for me to describe the Florida Seminole as they +present themselves, first as individuals, and next as members of a +society. I know it is impossible to separate, really, the individual as +such from the individual as a member of society; nevertheless, there is +the man as we see him, having certain characteristics which, we call +personal, or his own, whencesoever derived, having a certain physique +and certain, distinguishing psychical qualities. As such I will first +attempt to describe the Seminole. Then we shall be able the better to +look at him as he is in his relations with his fellows: in the family, +in the community, or in any of the forms of the social life of his +tribe. + + +Physical Characteristics. + +Physique of the Men. + +Physically both men and women are remarkable. The men, as a rule, +attract attention by their height, fullness and symmetry of development, +and the regularity and agreeableness of their features. In muscular +power and constitutional ability to endure they excel. While these +qualities distinguish, with a few exceptions, the men of the whole +tribe, they are particularly characteristic of the two most widely +spread of the families of which the tribe is composed. These are the +Tiger and Otter clans, which, proud of their lines of descent, have been +preserved through a long and tragic past with exceptional freedom from +admixture with degrading blood. Today their men might be taken as types +of physical excellence. The physique of every Tiger warrior especially I +met would furnish proof of this statement. The Tigers are dark, +copper-colored fellows, over six feet in height, with limbs in good +proportion; their hands and feet well shaped and not very large; their +stature erect; their bearing a sign of self-confident power; their +movements deliberate, persistent, strong. Their heads are large, and +their foreheads full and marked. An almost universal characteristic of +the Tiger's face is its squareness, a widened and protruding +under-jawbone giving this effect to it. Of other features, I noticed +that under a large forehead are deep set, bright, black eyes, small, but +expressive of inquiry and vigilance; the nose is slightly aquiline and +sensitively formed about the nostrils; the lips are mobile, sensuous, +and not very full, disclosing, when they smile, beautiful regular teeth; +and the whole face is expressive of the man's sense of having +extraordinary ability to endure and to achieve. Two of the warriors +permitted me to manipulate the muscles of their bodies. Under my touch +these were more like rubber than flesh. Noticeable among all are the +large calves of their legs, the size of the tendons of their lower +limbs, and the strength of their toes. I attribute this exceptional +development to the fact that they are not what we would call "horse +Indians" and that they hunt barefoot over their wide domain. The same +causes, perhaps, account for the only real deformity I noticed in the +Seminole physique, namely, the diminutive toe-nails, and for the heavy, +cracked, and seamed skin which covers the soles of their feet. The feet +being otherwise well formed, the toes have only narrow shells for nails, +these lying sunken across the middles of the tough cushions of flesh, +which, protuberant about them, form the toe-tips. But, regarded as a +whole, in their physique the Seminole warriors, especially the men of +the Tiger and Otter gentes, are admirable. Even among the children this +physical superiority is seen. To illustrate, one morning Ko-i-ha-tco's +son, Tin-fai-yai-ki, a tall, slender boy, not quite twelve years old, +shouldered a heavy "Kentucky" rifle, left our camp, and followed in his +father's long footsteps for a day's hunt. After tramping all day, at +sunset he reappeared in the camp, carrying slung across his shoulders, +in addition to rifle and accouterments, a deer weighing perhaps fifty +pounds, a weight he had borne for miles. The same boy, in one day, went +with some older friends to his permanent home, 20 miles away, and +returned. There are, as I have said, exceptions to this rule of unusual +physical size and strength, but these are few; so few that, disregarding +them, we may pronounce the Seminole men handsome and exceptionally +powerful. + +Physique of the Women. + +The women to a large extent share the qualities of the men. Some are +proportionally tall and handsome, though, curiously enough, many, +perhaps a majority, are rather under than over the average height of +women. As a rule, they exhibit great bodily vigor. Large or small, they +possess regular and agreeable features, shapely and well developed +bodies, and they show themselves capable of long continued and severe +physical exertion. Indeed, the only Indian women I have seen with +attractive features and forms are among the Seminole. I would even +venture to select from among these Indians three persons whom I could, +without much fear of contradiction, present as types respectively of a +handsome, a pretty, and a comely woman. Among American Indians, I am +confident that the Seminole women are of the first rank. + + +Clothing. + +But how is this people clothed? While the clothing of the Seminole is +simple and scanty, it is ample for his needs and suitable to the life he +leads. The materials of which the clothing is made are now chiefly +fabrics manufactured by the white man: calico, cotton cloth, ginghams, +and sometimes flannels. They also use some materials prepared by +themselves, as deer and other skins. Of ready made articles for wear +found in the white trader's store, they buy small woolen shawls, +brilliantly colored cotton handkerchiefs, now and then light woolen +blankets, and sometimes, lately, though very seldom, shoes. + + [Illustration: Fig. 61. Seminole costume.] + +Costume of the Men. + +The costume of the Seminole warrior at home consists of a shirt, a +neckerchief, a turban, a breech cloth, and, very rarely, moccasins. +On but one Indian in camp did I see more than this; on many, less. The +shirt is made of some figured or striped cotton cloth, generally of +quiet colors. It hangs from the neck to the knees, the narrow, rolling +collar being closely buttoned about the neck, the narrow wristbands of +the roomy sleeves buttoned about the wrists. The garment opens in front +for a few inches, downward from the collar, and is pocketless. A belt of +leather or buckskin usually engirdles the man's waist, and from it are +suspended one or more pouches, in which powder, bullets, pocket knife, +a piece of flint, a small quantity of paper, and like things for use in +hunting are carried. From the belt hang also one or more hunting knives, +each nearly 10 inches in length. I questioned one of the Indians about +having no pockets in his shirt, pointing out to him the wealth in this +respect of the white man's garments, and tried to show him how, on his +shirt, as on mine, these convenient receptacles could be placed, and to +what straits he was put to carry his pipe, money, and trinkets. He +showed little interest in my proposed improvement on his dress. + +Having no pockets, the Seminole is obliged to submit to several +inconveniences; for instance, he wears his handkerchief about his neck. +I have seen as many as six, even eight, handkerchiefs tied around his +throat, their knotted ends pendant over his breast; as a rule, they are +bright red and yellow things, of whose possession and number he is quite +proud. Having no pockets, the Seminole, only here and there, one +excepted, carries whatever money he obtains from time to time in a +knotted corner of one or more of his handkerchiefs. + +The next article of the man's ordinary costume is the turban. This +is a remarkable structure and gives to its wearer much of his unique +appearance. At present it is made of one or more small shawls. These +shawls are generally woolen and copied in figure and color from the +plaid of some Scotch clan. They are so folded that they are about 3 +inches wide and as long as the diagonal of the fabric. They are then, +one or more of them successively, wrapped tightly around the head, the +top of the head remaining bare; the last end of the last shawl is tucked +skillfully and firmly away, without the use of pins, somewhere in the +many folds of the turban. The structure when finished looks like a +section of a decorated cylinder crowded down upon the man's head. I +examined one of these turbans and found it a rather firm piece of work, +made of several shawls wound into seven concentric rings. It was over 20 +inches in diameter, the shell of the cylinder being perhaps 7 inches +thick and 3 in width. This head-dress, at the southern settlements, is +regularly worn in the camps and sometimes on the hunt. While hunting, +however, it seems to be the general custom, for the warriors to go +bareheaded. At the northern camps, a kerchief bound about the head +frequently takes the place of the turban in everyday life, but on +dress or festival occasions, at both the northern and the southern +settlements, this curious turban is the customary covering for the head +of the Seminole brave. Having no pockets in his dress, he has discovered +that the folds of his turban may be put to a pocket's uses. Those who +use tobacco (I say "those" because the tobacco habit is by no means +universal among the red men of Florida) frequently carry their pipes and +other articles in their turbans. + + [Illustration: Fig. 62. Key West Billy.] + +When the Seminole warrior makes his rare visits to the white man's +settlements, he frequently adds to his scanty camp dress leggins and +moccasins. + +In the camps I saw but one Indian wearing leggins (Fig. 62); he, +however, is in every way a peculiar character among his people, and is +objectionably favorable to the white man and the white man's ways. He +is called by the white men "Key West Billy," having received this name +because he once made a voyage in a canoe out of the Everglades and along +the line of keys south of the Florida mainland to Key West, where he +remained for some time. The act itself was so extraordinary, and it was +so unusual for a Seminole to enter a white man's town and remain there +for any length of time, that a commemorative name was bestowed upon him. +The materials of which the leggins of the Seminole are usually made is +buckskin. I saw, however, one pair of leggins made of a bright red +flannel, and ornamented along the outer seams with a blue and white +cross striped braid. The moccasins, also, are made of buckskin, of +either a yellow or dark red color. They are made to lace high about the +lower part of the leg, the lacing running from below the instep upward. +As showing what changes are going on among the Seminole, I may mention +that a few of them possess shoes, and one is even the owner of a pair +of frontier store boots. The blanket is not often worn by the Florida +Indians. Occasionally, in their cool weather, a small shawl, of the kind +made to do service in the turban, is thrown about the shoulders. Oftener +a piece of calico or white cotton cloth, gathered about the neck, +becomes the extra protection against mild coolness in their winters. + + [Illustration: Fig. 63. Seminole costume.] + +Costume of the Women. + +The costume of the women is hardly more complex than that of the men. It +consists, apparently, of but two garments, one of which, for lack of a +better English word, I name a short shirt, the other a long skirt. The +shirt is cut quite low at the neck and is just long enough to cover the +breasts. Its sleeves are buttoned close about the wrists. The garment is +otherwise buttonless, being wide enough at the neck for it to be easily +put on or taken off over the head. The conservatism of the Seminole +Indian is shown in nothing more clearly than in the use, by the women, +of this much abbreviated covering for the upper part of their bodies. +The women are noticeably modest, yet it does not seem to have occurred +to them that by making a slight change in their upper garment they might +free themselves from frequent embarrassment. In going about their work +they were constantly engaged in what our street boys would call "pulling +down their vests." This may have been done because a stranger's eyes +were upon them; but I noticed that in rising or in sitting down, or at +work, it was a perpetually renewed effort on their part to lengthen by a +pull the scanty covering hanging over their breasts. Gathered about the +waist is the other garment, the skirt, extending to the feet and often +touching the ground. This is usually made of some dark colored calico or +gingham. The cord by which the petticoat is fastened is often drawn so +tightly about the waist that it gives to that part of the body a rather +uncomfortable appearance. This is especially noticeable because the +shirt is so short that a space of two or more inches on the body is left +uncovered between it and the skirt. I saw no woman wearing moccasins, +and I was told that the women never wear them. For head wear the women +have nothing, unless the cotton cloth, or small shawl, used about the +shoulders in cool weather, and which at times is thrown or drawn over +the head, may be called that. (Fig. 63.) + +Girls from seven to ten years old are clothed with only a petticoat +and boys about the same age wear only a shirt. Younger children are, +as a rule, entirely naked. If clothed at anytime, it is only during +exceptionally cool weather or when taken by their parents on a journey +to the homes of the palefaces. + + +Personal Adornment. + +The love of personal adornment shows itself among the Seminole as among +other human beings. + + [Illustration: Fig. 64. Manner of wearing the hair.] + +Hair Dressing. + +The coarse, brilliant, black hair of which they are possessors is taken +care of in an odd manner. The men cut all their hair close to the head, +except a strip about an inch wide, running over the front of the scalp +from temple to temple, and another strip, of about the same width, +perpendicular to the former, crossing the crown of the head to the nape +of the neck. At each temple a heavy tuft is allowed to hang to the +bottom of the lobe of the ear. The long hair of the strip crossing to +the neck is generally gathered and braided into two ornamental queues. +I did not learn that these Indians are in the habit of plucking the hair +from their faces. I noticed, however, that the moustache is commonly +worn among them and that a few of them are endowed with a rather bold +looking combination of moustache and imperial. As an exception to the +uniform style of cutting the hair of the men, I recall the comical +appearance of a small negro half breed at the Big Cypress Swamp. His +brilliant wool was twisted into many little sharp cones, which stuck out +over his head like so many spikes on an ancient battle club. For some +reason there seems to be a much greater neglect of the care of the hair, +and, indeed, of the whole person, in the northern than in the southern +camps. + +The women dress their hair more simply than the men. From a line +crossing the head from ear to ear the hair is gathered up and bound, +just above the neck, into a knot somewhat like that often made by the +civilized woman, the Indian woman's hair being wrought more into the +shape of a cone, sometimes quite elongated and sharp at the apex. A +piece of bright ribbon is commonly used at the end as a finish to the +structure. The front hair hangs down over the forehead and along the +cheeks in front of the ears, being what we call "banged." The only +exception to this style of hair dressing I saw was the manner in which +Ci-ha-ne, a negress, had disposed of her long crisp tresses. Hers was +a veritable Medusa head. A score or more of dangling, snaky plaits, +hanging down over her black face and shoulders gave her a most repulsive +appearance. Among the little Indian girls the hair is simply braided +into a queue and tied with a ribbon, as we often see the hair upon the +heads of our school children. + +Ornamentation Of Clothing. + +The clothing of both men and women is ordinarily more or less +ornamented. Braids and strips of cloth of various colors are used and +wrought upon the garments into odd and sometimes quite tasteful shapes. +The upper parts of the shirts of the women are usually embroidered with +yellow, red, and brown braids. Sometimes as many as five of these braids +lie side by side, parallel with the upper edge of the garment or +dropping into a sharp angle between the shoulders. Occasionally a very +narrow cape, attached, I think, to the shirt, and much ornamented with +braids or stripes, hangs just over the shoulders and back. The same +kinds of material used for ornamenting the shirt are also used in +decorating the skirt above the lower edge of the petticoat. The women +embroider along this edge, with their braids and the narrow colored +stripes, a border of diamond and square shaped figures, which is often +an elaborate decoration to the dress. In like manner many of the shirts +of the men are made pleasing to the eye. I saw no ornamentation in +curves: it was always in straight lines and angles. + +Use Of Beads. + +My attention was called to the remarkable use of beads among these +Indian women, young and old. It seems to be the ambition of the Seminole +squaws to gather about their necks as many strings of beads as can be +hung there and as they can carry. They are particular as to the quality +of the beads they wear. They are satisfied with nothing meaner than a +cut glass bead, about a quarter of an inch or more in length, generally +of some shade of blue, and costing (so I was told by a trader at Miami) +$1.75 a pound. Sometimes, but not often, one sees beads of an inferior +quality worn. + +These beads must be burdensome to their wearers. In the Big Cypress +Swamp settlement one day, to gratify my curiosity as to how many strings +of beads these women can wear, I tried to count those worn by "Young +Tiger Tail's" wife, number one, Mo-ki, who had come through the +Everglades to visit her relatives. She was the proud wearer of certainly +not fewer than two hundred strings of good sized beads. She had six +quarts (probably a peck of the beads) gathered about her neck, hanging +down her back, down upon her breasts, filling the space under her chin, +and covering her neck up to her ears. It was an effort for her to move +her head. She, however, was only a little, if any, better off in her +possessions than most of the others. Others were about equally burdened. +Even girl babies are favored by their proud mammas with a varying +quantity of the coveted neck wear. The cumbersome beads are said to be +worn by night as well as by day. + +Silver Disks. + +Conspicuous among the other ornaments worn by women are silver disks, +suspended in a curve across the shirt fronts, under and below the beads. +As many as ten or more are worn by one woman. These disks are made by +men, who may be called "jewelers to the tribe," from silver quarters and +half dollars. The pieces of money are pounded quite thin, made concave, +pierced with holes, and ornamented by a groove lying just inside the +circumference. Large disks made from half dollars may be called "breast +shields." They are suspended, one over each breast. Among the disks +other ornaments are often suspended. One young woman I noticed +gratifying her vanity with not only eight disks made of silver quarters, +but also with three polished copper rifle shells, one bright brass +thimble, and a buckle hanging among them. Of course the possession of +these and like treasures depends upon the ability and desire of one and +another to secure them. + + [Illustration: Fig. 65. Manner of piercing the ear.] + +Ear Rings. + +Ear rings are not generally worn by the Seminole. Those worn are usually +made of silver and are of home manufacture. The ears of most of the +Indians, however, appear to be pierced, and, as a rule, the ears of the +women are pierced many times; for what purpose I did not discover. Along +and in the upper edges of the ears of the women from one to ten or more +small holes have been made. In most of these holes I noticed bits of +palmetto wood, about a fifth of an inch in length and in diameter the +size of a large pin. Seemingly they were not placed there to remain only +while the puncture was healing. (Fig. 65.) + +Piercing the ears excepted, the Florida Indians do not now mutilate +their bodies for beauty's sake. They no longer pierce the lips or the +nose; nor do they use paint upon their persons, I am told, except at +their great annual festival, the Green Corn Dance, and upon the faces of +their dead. + +Finger Rings. + +Nor is the wearing of finger rings more common than that of rings for +the ears. The finger rings I saw were all made of silver and showed good +workmanship. Most of them were made with large elliptical tablets on +them, extending from knuckle to knuckle. These also were home-made. + +Silver vs. Gold. + +I saw no gold ornaments. Gold, even gold money, does not seem to be +considered of much value by the Seminole. He is a monometalist, and his +precious metal is silver. I was told by a cattle dealer of an Indian who +once gave him a twenty dollar gold piece for $17 in silver, although +assured that the gold piece was worth more than the silver, and in my +own intercourse with the Seminole I found them to manifest, with few +exceptions, a decided preference for silver. I was told that the +Seminole are peculiar in wishing to possess nothing that is not genuine +of its apparent kind. Traders told me that, so far as the Indians know, +they will buy of them only what is the best either of food or of +material for wear or ornament. + +Crescents, Wristlets, and Belts. + +The ornaments worn by the men which are most worthy of attention are +crescents, varying in size and value. These are generally about five +inches long, an inch in width at the widest part, and of the thickness +of ordinary tin. These articles are also made from silver coins and are +of home manufacture. They are worn suspended from the neck by cords, +in the cusps of the crescents, one below another, at distances apart of +perhaps two and a half inches. Silver wristlets are used by the men for +their adornment. They are fastened about the wrists by cords or thongs +passing through holes in the ends of the metal. Belts, and turbans too, +are often ornamented with fanciful devices wrought out of silver. It is +not customary for the Indian men to wear these ornaments in everyday +camp life. They appear with them on a festival occasion or when they +visit some trading post. + + +Me-Le. + +A sketch made by Lieutenant Brown, of Saint Francis Barracks, Saint +Augustine, Florida, who accompanied me on my trip to the Cat Fish Lake +settlement, enables me to show, in gala dress, Me-le, a half breed +Seminole, the son of an Indian, Ho-laq-to-mik-ko, by a negress adopted +into the tribe when a child. + + [Transcriber's Note: + The picture described does not appear in the printed text, and is not + included in the List of Illustrations.] + +Me-le sat for his picture in my room at a hotel in Orlando. He had just +come seventy miles from his home, at Cat Fish Lake, to see the white man +and a white man's town. He was clothed "in his best," and, moreover, had +just purchased and was wearing a pair of store boots in addition to his +home-made finery. He was the owner of the one pair of red flannel +leggins of which I have spoken. These were not long enough to cover the +brown skin of his sturdy thighs. His ornaments were silver crescents, +wristlets, a silver studded belt, and a peculiar battlement-like band of +silver on the edge of his turban. Notice his uncropped head of +luxuriant, curly hair, the only exception I observed to the singular cut +of hair peculiar to the Seminole men. Me-le, however, is in many other +more important respects an exceptional character. He is not at all in +favor with the Seminole of pure blood. "Me-le ho-lo-wa kis" (Me-le is +of no account) was the judgment passed upon him to me by some of the +Indians. Why? Because he likes the white man and would live the white +man's life if he knew how to break away safely from his tribe. He has +been progressive enough to build for himself a frame house, inclosed on +all sides and entered by a door. More than that, he is not satisfied +with the hunting habits and the simple agriculture of his people, nor +with their ways of doing other things. He has started an orange grove, +and in a short time will have a hundred trees, so he says, bearing +fruit. He has bought and uses a sewing machine, and he was intelligent +enough, so the report goes, when the machine had been taken to pieces in +his presence, to put it together again without mistake. He once called +off for me from a newspaper the names of the letters of our alphabet, +and legibly wrote his English name, "John Willis Mik-ko." Mik-ko has a +restless, inquisitive mind, and deserves the notice and care of those +who are interested in the progress of this people. Seeking him one day +at Orlando, I found him busily studying the locomotive engine of the +little road which had been pushed out into that part of the frontier +of Florida's civilized population. Next morning he was at the station +to see the train depart, and told me he would like to go with me to +Jacksonville. He is the only Florida Seminole, I believe, who had at +that time seen a railway. + + +Psychical Characteristics. + +I shall now glance at what may more properly be called the psychical +characteristics of the Florida Indians. I have been led to the +conclusion that for Indians they have attained a relatively high degree +of psychical development. They are an uncivilized, I hardly like to call +them a savage, people. They are antagonistic to white men, as a race, +and to the white man's culture, but they have characteristics of their +own, many of which are commendable. They are decided in their enmity to +any representative of the white man's government and to everything which +bears upon it the government's mark. To one, however, who is acquainted +with recent history this enmity is but natural, and a confessed +representative of the government need not be surprised at finding in the +Seminole only forbidding and unlovely qualities. But when suspicion is +disarmed, one whom they have welcomed to their confidence will find them +evincing characteristics which will excite his admiration and esteem. +I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the Seminole, not as a +representative of our National Government, but under conditions which +induced them to welcome me as a friend. In my intercourse with them, I +found them to be not only the brave, self reliant, proud people who have +from time to time withstood our nation's armies in defense of their +rights, but also a people amiable, affectionate, truthful, and +communicative. Nor are they devoid of a sense of humor. With only few +exceptions, I found them genial. Indeed, the old chief, Tus-te-nug-ge, +a man whose warwhoop and deadly hand, during the last half century, have +often been heard and felt among the Florida swamps and prairies, was the +only one disposed to sulk in my presence and to repel friendly advances. +He called me to him when I entered the camp where he was, and, with +great dignity of manner, asked after my business among his people. +After listening, through my interpreter, to my answers to his questions, +he turned from me and honored me no further. I call the Seminole +communicative, because most with whom I spoke were eager to talk, and, +as far as they could with the imperfect means at their disposal, to give +me the information I sought. "Doctor Na-ki-ta" (Doctor What-is-it) I was +playfully named at the Cat Fish Lake settlement; yet the people there +were seemingly as ready to try to answer as I was to ask, "What is it?" +I said they are truthful. That is their reputation with many of the +white men I met, and I have reason to believe that the reputation is +under ordinary circumstances well founded. They answered promptly and +without equivocation "No" or "Yes" or "I don't know." And they are +affectionate to one another, and, so far as I saw, amiable in their +domestic and social intercourse. Parental affection is characteristic of +their home life, as several illustrative instances I might mention would +show. I will mention one. Tael-la-haes-ke is the father of six fine +looking boys, ranging in age from four to eighteen years. Seven months +before I met him his wife died, and when I was at his camp this strong +Indian appeared to have become both mother and father to his children. +His solicitous affection seemed continually to follow these boys, +watching their movements and caring for their comfort. Especially did he +throw a tender care about the little one of his household. I have seen +this little fellow clambering, just like many a little paleface, over +his father's knees and back, persistently demanding attention but in +no way disturbing the father's amiability or serenity, even while the +latter was trying to oblige me by answering puzzling questions upon +matters connected with his tribe. One night, as Lieutenant Brown and +I sat by the campfire at Tael-la-haes-ke's lodge--the larger boys, two +Seminole negresses, three pigs, and several dogs, together with +Tael-la-haes-ke, forming a picturesque circle in the ashes around the +bright light--I heard muffled moans from the little palmetto shelter on +my right, under which the three smaller boys were bundled up in cotton +cloth on deer skins for the night's sleep. Upon the moans followed +immediately the frightened cry of the baby boy, waking out of bad dreams +and crying for the mother who could not answer; "Its-ki, Its-ki" +(mother, mother) begged the little fellow, struggling from under his +covering. At once the big Indian grasped his child, hugged him to his +breast, pressed the little head to his cheek, consoling him all the +while with caressing words, whose meaning I felt, though I could not +have translated them into English, until the boy, wide awake, laughed +with his father and us all and was ready to be again rolled up beside +his sleeping brothers. I have said also that the Seminole are frank. +Formal or hypocritical courtesy does not characterize them. One of my +party wished to accompany Ka-tca-la-ni ("Yellow Tiger") on a hunt. He +wished to see how the Indian would find, approach, and capture his game. +"Me go hunt with you, Tom, to-day?" asked our man. "No," answered Tom, +and in his own language continued, "not to-day; to-morrow." To-morrow +came, and, with it, Tom to our camp. "You can go to Horse Creek with me; +then I hunt alone and you come back," was the Indian's remark as both +set out. I afterwards learned that Ka-tca-la-ni was all kindness on the +trail to Horse Creek, three miles away, aiding the amateur hunter in his +search for game and giving him the first shot at what was started. At +Horse Creek, however, Tom stopped, and, turning to his companion, +said, "Now you hi-e-pus (go)!" That was frankness indeed, and quite +refreshing to us who had not been honored by it. But equally outspoken, +without intending offense, I found them always. You could not mistake +their meaning, did you understand their words. Diplomacy seems, as yet, +to be an unlearned art among them. + +Ko-Nip-Ha-Tco. + +Here is another illustration of their frankness. One Indian, +Ko-nip-ha-tco ("Billy"), a brother of "Key West Billy," has become so +desirous of identifying himself with the white people that in 1879 he +came to Capt. F. A. Hendry, at Myers, and asked permission to live with +him. Permission was willingly given, and when I went to Florida this +"Billy" had been studying our language and ways for more than a year. +At that time he was the only Seminole who had separated himself from his +people and had cast in his lot with the whites. He had clothed himself +in our dress and taken to the bed and table, instead of the ground and +kettle, for sleep and food. "Me all same white man," he boastfully told +me one day. But I will not here relate the interesting story of +"Billy's" previous life or of his adventures in reaching his present +proud position. It is sufficient to say that, for the time at least, +he had become in the eyes of his people a member of a foreign community. +As may be easily guessed, Ko-nip-ha-tco's act was not at all looked upon +with favor by the Indians; it was, on the contrary, seriously opposed. +Several tribal councils made him the subject of discussion, and once, +during the year before I met him, five of his relatives came to Myers +and compelled him to return with them for a time to his home at the Big +Cypress Swamp. But to my illustration of Seminole frankness: In the +autumn of 1880, Mat-te-lo, a prominent Seminole, was at Myers and +happened to meet Captain Hendry. While they stood together "Billy" +passed. Hardly had the young fellow disappeared when Mat-te-lo said to +Captain Hendry, "Bum-by. Indian kill Billy." But an answer came. In this +case the answer of the white man was equally frank: "Mat-te-lo, when +Indian kill Billy, white man kill Indian, remember." And so the talk +ended, the Seminole looking hard at the captain to try to discover +whether he had meant what he said. + + +Intellectual Ability. + +In range of intellectual power and mental processes the Florida Indians, +when compared with the intellectual abilities and operations of the +cultivated American, are quite limited. But if the Seminole are to be +judged by comparison with other American aborigines, I believe they +easily enter the first class. They seem to be mentally active. When the +full expression of any of my questions failed, a substantive or two, an +adverb, and a little pantomime generally sufficed to convey the meaning +to my hearers. In their intercourse with one another, they are, as a +rule, voluble, vivacious, showing the possession of relatively active +brains and mental fertility. Certainly, most of the Seminole I met +cannot justly be called either stupid or intellectually sluggish, +and I observed that, when invited to think of matters with which they +are not familiar or which are beyond the verge of the domain which +their intellectual faculties have mastered, they nevertheless bravely +endeavored to satisfy me before they were willing to acknowledge +themselves powerless. They would not at once answer a misunderstood or +unintelligible question, but would return inquiry upon inquiry, before +the decided "I don't know" was uttered. Those with whom I particularly +dealt were exceptionally patient under the strains to which I put their +minds. Ko-nip-ha-tco, by no means a brilliant member of his tribe, is +much to be commended for his patient, persistent, intellectual industry. +I kept the young fellow busy for about a fortnight, from half-past eight +in the morning until five in the afternoon, with but an hour and a +half's intermission at noon. Occupying our time with inquiries not very +interesting to him, about the language and life of his people, I could +see how much I wearied him. Often I found by his answers that his brain +was, to a degree, paralyzed by the long continued tension to which it +was subjected. But he held on bravely through the severe heat of an +attic room at Myers. Despite the insects, myriads of which took a great +interest in us and our surroundings, despite the persistent invitation +of the near woods to him to leave "Doctor Na-ki-ta" and to tramp off in +them on a deer hunt (for "Billy" is a lover of the woods and a bold and +successful hunter), he held on courageously. The only sign of weakening +he made was on one day, about noon, when, after many, to me, vexatious +failures to draw from him certain translations into his own language of +phrases containing verbs illustrating variations of mood, time, number, +&c., he said to me: "Doctor, how long you want me to tell you Indian +language?" "Why?" I replied, "are you tired, Billy?" "No," he answered, +"a littly. Me think me tell you all. Me don't know English language. +Bum-by you come, next winter, me tell you all. Me go school. Me learn. +Me go hunt deer to-mollow." I was afraid of losing my hold upon him, for +time was precious. "Billy," I said, "you go now. You hunt to-day. I need +you just three days more and then you can hunt all the time. To-morrow +come, and I will ask you easier questions." After only a moment's +hesitation, "Me no go, Doctor; me stay," was his courageous decision. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +Seminole Society. + + +As I now direct attention to the Florida Seminole in their relations +with one another, I shall first treat of that relationship which lies +at the foundation of society, marriage or its equivalent, the result +of which is a body of people more or less remotely connected with one +another and designated by the term "kindred." This is shown either in +the narrow limits of what may be named the family or in the larger +bounds of what is called the clan or gens. I attempted to get full +insight into the system of relationships in which Seminole kinship is +embodied, and, while my efforts were not followed by an altogether +satisfactory result, I saw enough to enable me to say that the Seminole +relationships are essentially those of what we may call their "mother +tribe," the Creek. The Florida Seminole are a people containing, to some +extent, the posterity of tribes diverse from the Creek in language and +in social and political organization; but so strong has the Creek +influence been in their development that the Creek language, Creek +customs, and Creek regulations have been the guiding forces in their +history, forces by which, in fact, the characteristics of the other +peoples have yielded, have been practically obliterated. + +I have made a careful comparison of the terms of Seminole relationship I +obtained with those of the Creek Indians, embodied in Dr. L. H. Morgan's +Consanguinity and Affinity of the American Indians, and I find that, as +far as I was able to go, they are the same, allowing for the natural +differences of pronunciation of the two peoples. The only seeming +difference of relationships lies in the names applied to some of the +lineal descendants, descriptive instead of classificatory names being +used. + +I have said, "as far as I was able to go." I found, for example, that +beyond the second collateral line among consanguineous kindred my +interpreter would answer my question only by some such answer as "I +don't know" or "No kin," and that, beyond the first collateral line of +kindred by marriage, except for a very few relationships, I could obtain +no answer. + + +The Seminole Family. + +The family consists of the husband, one or more wives, and their +children. I do not know what limit tribal law places to the number of +wives the Florida Indian may have, but certainly he may possess two. +There are several Seminole families in which duogamy exists. + +Courtship. + +I learned the following facts concerning the formation of a family: +A young warrior, at the age of twenty or less, sees an Indian maiden of +about sixteen years, and by a natural impulse desires to make her his +wife. What follows? He calls his immediate relatives to a council and +tells them of his wish. If the damsel is not a member of the lover's +own gens and if no other impediment stands in the way of the proposed +alliance, they select, from their own number, some who, at an +appropriate time, go to the maiden's kindred and tell them that they +desire the maid to receive their kinsman as her husband. The girl's +relatives then consider the question. If they decide in favor of the +union, they interrogate the prospective bride as to her disposition +towards the young man. If she also is willing, news of the double +consent is conveyed through the relatives, on both sides, to the +prospective husband. From that moment there is a gentle excitement in +both households. The female relatives of the young man take to the house +of the betrothed's mother a blanket or a large piece of cotton cloth and +a bed canopy--in other words, the furnishing of a new bed. Thereupon +there is returned thence to the young man a wedding costume, consisting +of a newly made shirt. + +Marriage. + +Arrangements for the marriage being thus completed, the marriage takes +place by the very informal ceremony of the going of the bridegroom, at +sunset of an appointed day, to the home of his mother-in-law, where he +is received by his bride. From that time he is her husband. The next +day, husband and wife appear together in the camp, and are thenceforth +recognized as a wedded pair. After the marriage, through what is the +equivalent of the white man's honeymoon, and often for a much longer +period, the new couple remain at the home of the mother-in-law. It is +the man and not the woman among these Indians who leaves father and +mother and cleaves unto the mate. After a time, especially as the family +increases, the wedded pair build one or more houses for independent +housekeeping, either at the camp of the wife's mother or elsewhere, +excepting among the husband's relatives. + +Divorce. + +The home may continue until death breaks it up. Sometimes, however, +it occurs that most hopeful matrimonial beginnings, among the Florida +Seminole, as elsewhere, end in disappointment and ruin. How divorce +is accomplished I could not learn. I pressed the question upon +Ko-nip-ha-tco, but his answer was, "Me don't know; Indian no tell me +much." All the light I obtained upon the subject comes from Billy's +first reply, "He left her." In fact, desertion seems to be the only +ceremony accompanying a divorce. The husband, no longer satisfied with +his wife, leaves her; she returns to her family, and the matter is +ended. There is no embarrassment growing out of problems respecting the +woman's future support, the division of property, or the adjustment of +claims for the possession of the children. The independent self-support +of every adult, healthy Indian, female as well as male, and the gentile +relationship, which is more wide reaching and authoritative than that +of marriage, have already disposed of these questions, which are usually +so perplexing for the white man. So far as personal maintenance is +concerned, a woman is, as a rule, just as well off without a husband +as with one. What is hers, in the shape of property, remains her own +whether she is married or not. In fact, marriage among these Indians +seems to be but the natural mating of the sexes, to cease at the option +of either of the interested parties. Although I do not know that the +wife may lawfully desert her husband, as well as the husband his wife, +from some facts learned I think it probable that she may. + +Childbirth. + +According to information received a prospective mother, as the hour of +her confinement approaches, selects a place for the birth of her child +not far from the main house of the family, and there, with some friends, +builds a small lodge, covering the top and sides of the structure +generally with the large leaves of the cabbage palmetto. To this +secluded place the woman, with some elderly female relatives, goes at +the time the child is to be born, and there, in a sitting posture, her +hands grasping a strong stick driven into the ground before her, she +is delivered of her babe, which is received and cared for by her +companions. Rarely is the Indian mother's labor difficult or followed by +a prolonged sickness. Usually she returns to her home with her little +one within four days after its birth. + + [Illustration: Fig. 66. Baby cradle or hammock.] + +Infancy. + +The baby, well into the world, learns very quickly that he is to make +his own way through it as best he may. His mother is prompt to nourish +him and solicitous in her care for him if he falls ill, but, as far as +possible, she goes her own way and leaves the little fellow to go his. +From the first she gives her child the perfectly free use of his body +and, within a limited area, of the camp ground. She does not bundle him +into a motionless thing or bind him helplessly on a board; on the +contrary, she does not trouble her child even with clothing. The Florida +Indian baby, when very young, spends his time, naked, in a hammock, or +on a deer skin, or on the warm earth. (Fig. 66.) + +The Seminole mother, I was informed, is not in the habit of soothing +her baby with song. Nevertheless, sometimes one may hear her or an old +grandam crooning a monotonous refrain as she crouches on the ground +beside the swinging hammock of a baby. I heard one of these refrains, +and, as nearly as I could catch it, it ran thus: + + [Illustration: Music] + + No-wut-tca, No-wut-tca. + +The hammock was swung in time with the song. The singing was slow in +movement and nasal in quality. The last note was unmusical and uttered +quite staccato. + +There are times, to be sure, when the Seminole mother carries her baby. +He is not always left to his pleasure on the ground or in a hammock. +When there is no little sister or old grandmother to look after the +helpless creature and the mother is forced to go to any distance from +her house or lodge, she takes him with her. This she does, usually, by +setting him astride one of her hips and holding him there. If she wishes +to have both her arms free, however, she puts the baby into the center +of a piece of cotton cloth, ties opposite corners of the cloth together, +and slings her burden over her shoulders and upon her back, where, with +his brown legs astride his mother's hips, the infant rides, generally +with much satisfaction. I remember seeing, one day, one jolly little +fellow, lolling and rollicking on his mother's back, kicking her and +tugging away at the strings of beads which hung temptingly between her +shoulders, while the mother, hand-free, bore on one shoulder a log, +which, a moment afterwards, still keeping her baby on her back as she +did so, she chopped into small wood for the camp fire. + +Childhood. + +But just as soon as the Seminole baby has gained sufficient strength to +toddle he learns that the more he can do for himself and the more he can +contribute to the general domestic welfare the better he will get along +in life. No small amount of the labor in a Seminole household is done by +children, even as young as four years of age. They can stir the soup +while it is boiling; they can aid in kneading the dough for bread; +they can wash the "Koonti" root, and even pound it; they can watch and +replenish the fire; they contribute in this and many other small ways to +the necessary work of the home. I am not to be understood, of course, as +saying that the little Seminole's life is one of severe labor. He has +plenty of time for games and play of all kinds, and of these I shall +hereafter speak. Yet, as soon as he is able to play, he finds that with +his play he must mix work in considerable measure. + +Seminole Dwellings--I-Ful-Lo-Ha-Tco's House. + +Now that we have seen the Seminole family formed, let us look at its +home. The Florida Indians are not nomads. They have fixed habitations: +settlements in well defined districts, permanent camps, houses or +wigwams which, remain from year to year the abiding places of their +families, and gardens and fields which for indefinite periods are used +by the same owners. There are times during the year when parties gather +into temporary camps for a few weeks. Now perhaps they gather upon some +rich Koonti ground, that they may dig an extra quantity of this root and +make flour from it; now, that they may have a sirup making festival, +they go to some fertile sugar cane hammock; or again, that they may have +a hunt, they camp where a certain kind of game has been discovered in +abundance. And they all, as a rule, go to a central point, once a year +and share there their great feast, the Green Corn Dance. Besides, as I +was told, these Indians are frequent visitors to one another, acting in +turn as guests and hosts for a few days at a time. But it is the fact, +nevertheless, that for much the greater part of the year the Seminole +families are at their homes, occupying houses, surrounded by many +comforts and living a life of routine industry. + +As one Seminole home is, with but few unimportant differences, like +nearly all the others, we can get a good idea of what it is by +describing here the first one I visited, that of I-ful-lo-ha-tco, or +"Charlie Osceola," in the "Bad Country," on the edge of the Big Cypress +Swamp. + +When my guide pointed out to me the locality where "Charlie" lives, I +could see nothing but a wide saw-grass marsh surrounding a small island. +The island seemed covered with a dense growth of palmetto and other +trees and tangled shrubbery, with a few banana plants rising among +them. No sign of human habitation was visible. This invisibility +of a Seminole's house from the vicinity may be taken as a marked +characteristic of his home. If possible, he hides his house, placing +it on an island and in a jungle. As we neared the hammock we found that +approach to it was difficult. On horseback there was no trouble in +getting through the water and the annoying saw-grass, but I found it +difficult to reach the island with my vehicle, which was loaded with our +provisions and myself. On the shore of "Charlie's" island is a piece of +rich land of probably two acres in extent. At length I landed, and soon, +to my surprise, entered a small, neat clearing, around which were built +three houses, excellent of their kind, and one insignificant structure. +Beyond these, well fenced with palmetto logs, lay a small garden. No one +of the entire household--father, mother, and child--was at home. Where +they had gone we did not learn until later. We found them next day at a +sirup making at "Old Tommy's" field, six miles away. Having, in the +absence of the owner, a free range of the camp, I busied myself in +noting what had been left in it and what were its peculiarities. Among +the first things I picked up was a "cow's horn." + +This, my guide informed me, was used in calling from camp to camp. +Mounting a pile of logs, "Billy" tried with it to summon "Charlie," +thinking he might be somewhere near. Meanwhile I continued my search. +I noticed some terrapin shells lying on a platform in one of the houses, +the breast shell pierced with two holes. "Wear them at Green Corn +Dance," said "Billy." I caught sight of some dressed buckskins lying on +a rafter of a house, and an old fashioned rifle, with powder horn and +shot flask. I also saw a hoe; a deep iron pot; a mortar, made from a +live oak (?) log, probably fifteen inches in diameter and twenty-four in +height, and beside it a pestle, made from mastic wood, perhaps four feet +and a half in length. + +A bag of corn hung from a rafter, and near it a sack of clothing, which +I did not examine. A skirt, gayly ornamented, hung there also. There +were several basketware sieves, evidently home made, and various bottles +lying around the place. I did not search among the things laid away on +the rafters under the roof. A sow, with several pigs, lay contentedly +under the platform of one of the houses. And near by, in the saw-grass, +was moored a cypress "dug-out," about fifteen feet long, pointed at bow +and stern. + +Dwellings throughout the Seminole district are practically uniform in +construction. With but slight variations, the accompanying sketch of +I-ful-lo-ha-tco's main dwelling shows what style of architecture +prevails in the Florida Everglades. (Pl. XIX.) + +This house is approximately 16 by 9 feet in ground measurement, made +almost altogether, if not wholly, of materials taken from the palmetto +tree. It is actually but a platform elevated about three feet from the +ground and covered with a palmetto thatched roof, the roof being not +more than 12 feet above the ground at the ridge pole, or 7 at the eaves. +Eight upright palmetto logs, unsplit and undressed, support the roof. +Many rafters sustain the palmetto thatching. The platform is composed of +split palmetto logs lying transversely, flat sides up, upon beams which +extend the length of the building and are lashed to the uprights by +palmetto ropes, thongs, or trader's ropes. This platform is peculiar, +in that it fills the interior of the building like a floor and serves to +furnish the family with a dry sitting or lying down place when, as often +happens, the whole region is under water. The thatching of the roof is +quite a work of art: inside, the regularity and compactness of the +laying of the leaves display much skill and taste on the part of the +builder; outside--with the outer layers there seems to have been less +care taken than with those within--the mass of leaves of which the roof +is composed is held in place and made firm by heavy logs, which, bound +together in pairs, are laid upon it astride the ridge. The covering is, +I was informed, water tight and durable and will resist even a violent +wind. Only hurricanes can tear it off, and these are so infrequent in +Southern Florida that no attempt is made to provide against them. + + [Illustration: + Bureau of Ethnology + Fifth Annual Report Pl. XIX + Seminole Dwelling.] + +The Seminole's house is open on all sides and without rooms. It is, in +fact, only a covered platform. The single equivalent for a room in it is +the space above the joists which are extended across the building at the +lower edges of the roof. In this are placed surplus food and general +household effects out of use from time to time. Household utensils are +usually suspended from the uprights of the building and from pronged +sticks driven into the ground near by at convenient places. + +From this description the Seminole's house may seem a poor kind of +structure to use as a dwelling; yet if we take into account the climate +of Southern Florida nothing more would seem to be necessary. A shelter +from the hot sun and the frequent rains and a dry floor above the damp +or water covered ground are sufficient for the Florida Indian's needs. + +I-ful-lo-ha-tco's three houses are placed at three corners of an oblong +clearing, which is perhaps 40 by 30 feet. At the fourth corner is the +entrance into the garden, which is in shape an ellipse, the longer +diameter being about 25 feet. The three houses are alike, with the +exception that in one of them the elevated platform is only half the +size of those of the others. This difference seems to have been made on +account of the camp fire. The fire usually burns in the space around +which the buildings stand. During the wet season, however, it is moved +into the sheltered floor in the building having the half platform. At +Tus-ko-na's camp, where several families are gathered, I noticed one +building without the interior platform. This was probably the wet +weather kitchen. + +To all appearance there is no privacy in these open houses. The only +means by which it seems to be secured is by suspending, over where one +sleeps, a canopy of thin cotton cloth or calico, made square or oblong +in shape, and nearly three feet in height. This serves a double use, +as a private room and as a protection against gnats and mosquitoes. + +But while I-ful-lo-ha-tco's house is a fair example of the kind of +dwelling in use throughout the tribe, I may not pass unnoticed some +innovations which have lately been made upon the general style. There +are, I understand, five inclosed houses, which were built and are owned +by Florida Indians. Four of these are covered with split cypress planks +or slabs; one is constructed of logs. + +Progressive "Key West Billy" has gone further than any other one, +excepting perhaps Me-le, in the white man's ways of house building. +He has erected for his family, which consists of one wife and three +children, a cypress board house, and furnished it with doors and +windows, partitions, floors, and ceiling. In the house are one upper and +one or two lower rooms. Outside, he has a stairway to the upper floor, +and from the upper floor a balcony. He possesses also an elevated bed, +a trunk for his clothing, and a straw hat. + +Besides the permanent home for the Seminole family, there is also the +lodge which it occupies when for any cause it temporarily leaves the +house. The lodges, or the temporary structures which the Seminole make +when "camping out," are, of course, much simpler and less comfortable +than their houses. I had the privilege of visiting two "camping" +parties--one of forty-eight Indians, at Tak-o-si-mac-la's cane field, on +the edge of the Big Cypress Swamp; the other of twenty-two persons, at a +Koonti ground, on Horse Creek, not far from the site of what was, long +ago, Fort Davenport. + +I found great difficulty in reaching the "camp" at the sugar cane field. +I was obliged to leave my conveyance some distance from the island on +which the cane field was located. When we arrived at the shore of the +saw-grass marsh no outward sign indicated the presence of fifty Indians +so close at hand; but suddenly three turbaned Seminole emerged from the +marsh, as we stood there. Learning from our guide our business, they +cordially offered to conduct us through the water and saw-grass to the +camp. The wading was annoying and, to me, difficult; but at length we +secured dry footing in the jungle on the island, and after a tortuous +way through the tangled vegetation, which walled in the camp from the +prairie, we entered the large clearing and the collection of lodges +where the Indians were. These lodges, placed very close together and +seemingly without order, were almost all made of white cotton cloths, +which were each stretched over ridge poles and tied to four corner +posts. The lodges were in shape like the fly of a wall tent, simply a +sheet stretched for a cover. + +At a Koonti ground on Horse Creek I met the Cat Fish Lake Indians. They +had been forced to leave their homes to secure an extra supply of Koonti +flour, because, as I understood the woman who told me, some animals had +eaten all their sweet potatoes. The lodges of this party differed from +those of the southern Indians in being covered above and around with +palmetto leaves and in being shaped some like wall tents and others like +single-roofed sheds. The accompanying sketch shows what kind of a +shelter Tael-la-haes-ke had made for himself fit Horse Creek. (Fig. 67.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 67. Temporary dwelling.] + +Adjoining each of these lodges was a platform, breast high. These were +made of small poles or sticks covered with, the leaves of the palmetto. +Upon and under these, food, clothing, and household utensils, generally, +were kept; and between the rafters of the lodges and the roofs, also, +many articles, especially those for personal use and adornment, were +stored. + +Home Life. + +Having now seen the formation of the Seminole family and taken a glance +at the dwellings, permanent and temporary, which it occupies, we are +prepared to look at its household life. I was surprised by the industry +and comparative prosperity and, further, by the cheerfulness and mutual +confidence, intimacy, and affection of these Indians in their family +intercourse. + +The Seminole family is industrious. All its members work who are able to +do so, men as well as women. The former are not only hunters, fishermen, +and herders, but agriculturists also. The women not only care for their +children and look after the preparation of food and the general welfare +of the home, but are, besides, laborers in the fields. In the Seminole +family, both, husband and wife are land proprietors and cultivators. +Moreover, as we have seen, all children able to labor contribute their +little to the household prosperity. From these various domestic +characteristics, an industrious family life almost necessarily follows. +The disesteem in which Tus-ko-na, a notorious loafer at the Big Cypress +Swamp, is held by the other Indians shows that laziness is not +countenanced among the Seminole. + +But let me not be misunderstood here. By a Seminole's industry I do +not mean the persistent and rapid labor of the white man of a northern +community. The Indian is not capable of this, nor is he compelled to +imitate it. I mean only that, in describing him, it is but just for me +to say that he is a worker and not a loafer. + +As a result of the domestic industry it would be expected that we should +find comparative prosperity prevailing among all Seminole families; and +this is the fact. Much of the Indian's labor is wasted through his +ignorance of the ways by which it might be economized. He has no +labor saving or labor multiplying machines. There is but little +differentiation of function in either family or tribe. Each worker does +all kinds of work. Men give themselves to the hunt, women to the house, +and both to the field. But men may be found sometimes at the cooking +pot or toasting stick and women may be seen taking care of cattle and +horses. Men bring home deer and turkeys, &c.; women spend days in +fishing. Both men and women are tailors, shoemakers, flour makers, cane +crushers and sirup boilers, wood hewers and bearers, and water carriers. +There are but few domestic functions which may be said to belong +exclusively, on the one hand, to men, or, on the other, to women. + +Out of the diversified domestic industry, as I have said, comes +comparative prosperity. The home is all that the Seminole family needs +or desires for its comfort. There is enough clothing, or the means to +get it, for every one. Ordinarily more than a sufficient quantity of +clothes is possessed by each member of a family. No one lacks money or +the material with which to obtain that which money purchases. Nor +need any ever hunger, since the fields and nature offer them food in +abundance. The families of the northern camps are not as well provided +for by bountiful nature as those south of the Caloosahatchie River. Yet, +though at my visit to the Cat Fish Lake Indians in midwinter the sweet +potatoes were all gone, a good hunting ground and fertile fields of +Koonti were near at hand for Tcup-ko's people to visit and use to their +profit. + +Food. + +Read the bill of fare from which the Florida Indians may select, and +compare with that the scanty supplies within reach of the North Carolina +Cherokee or the Lake Superior Chippewa. Here is a list of their meats: +Of flesh, at any time venison, often opossum, sometimes rabbit and +squirrel, occasionally bear, and a land terrapin, called the "gopher," +and pork whenever they wish it. Of wild fowl, duck, quail, and turkey in +abundance. Of home reared fowl, chickens, more than they are willing to +use. Of fish, they can catch myriads of the many kinds which teem in the +inland waters of Florida, especially of the large bass, called "trout" +by the whites of the State, while on the seashore they can get many +forms of edible marine life, especially turtles and oysters. Equally +well off are these Indians in respect to grains, vegetables, roots, +and fruits. They grow maize in considerable quantity, and from it make +hominy and flour, and all the rice they need they gather from the +swamps. Their vegetables are chiefly sweet potatoes, large and much +praised melons and pumpkins, and, if I may classify it with vegetables, +the tender new growth of the tree called the cabbage palmetto. Among +roots, there is the great dependence of these Indians, the abounding +Koonti; also the wild potato, a small tuber found in black swamp land, +and peanuts in great quantities. Of fruits, the Seminole family may +supply itself with bananas, oranges (sour and sweet), limes, lemons, +guavas, pineapples, grapes (black and red), cocoa nuts, cocoa plums, sea +grapes, and wild plums. And with even this enumeration the bill of fare +is not exhausted. The Seminole, living in a perennial summer, is never +at a loss when he seeks something, and something good, to eat. I have +omitted from the above list honey and the sugar cane juice and sirup, +nor have I referred to the purchases the Indians now and then make from +the white man, of salt pork, wheat flour, coffee, and salt, and of the +various canned delicacies, whose attractive labels catch their eyes. + +These Indians are not, of course, particularly provident. I was told, +however, that they are beginning to be ambitious to increase their +little herds of horses and cattle and their numbers of chickens and +swine. + +Camp Fire. + +Entering the more interior, the intimate home life of the Seminole, one +observes that the center about which it gathers is the camp fire. This +is never large except on a cool night, but it is of unceasing interest +to the household. It is the place where the food is prepared, and where, +by day, it is always preparing. It is the place where the social +intercourse of the family, and of the family with their friends, is +enjoyed. There the story is told; by its side toilets are made and +household duties are performed, not necessarily on account of the warmth +the fire gives, for it is often so small that its heat is almost +imperceptible, but because of its central position in the household +economy. This fire is somewhat singularly constructed; the logs used +for it are of considerable length, and are laid, with some regularity, +around a center, like the radii of a circle. These logs are pushed +directly inward as the inner ends are consumed. The outer ends of the +logs make excellent seats; sometimes they serve as pillows, especially +for old men and women wishing to take afternoon, naps. + +Beds and bedding are of far less account to the Seminole family than the +camp fire. The bed is often only the place where one chooses to lie. It +is generally, however, chosen under the sheltering roof on the elevated +platform, or, when made in the lodge, on palmetto leaves. It is +pillowless, and has covering or not, as the sleeper may wish. If a cover +is used, it is, as a rule, only a thin blanket or a sheet of cotton +cloth, besides, during most of the year, the canopy or mosquito bar. + +Manner Of Eating. + +Next in importance to the camp fire in the life of the Seminole +household naturally comes the eating of what is prepared there. There +is nothing very formal in that. The Indians do not set a table or lay +dishes and arrange chairs. A good sized kettle, containing stewed meat +and vegetables, is the center around which, the family gathers for its +meal. This, placed in some convenient spot on the ground near the fire, +is surrounded by more or fewer of the members of the household in a +sitting posture. If all that they have to eat at that time is contained +in the kettle, each, extracts, with his fingers or his knife, a piece of +meat or a bone with meat on it, and, holding it in one hand, eats, while +with the other hand each, in turn, supplies himself, by means of a great +wooden spoon, from the porridge in the pot. + +The Seminole, however, though observing meal times with some regularity, +eats just as his appetite invites. If it happens that he has a side of +venison roasting before the fire, he will cut from it at any time during +the day and, with the piece of meat in one hand and a bit of Koonti or +of different bread in the other, satisfy his appetite. Not seldom, too, +he rises during the night and breaks his sleep by eating a piece of the +roasting meat. The kettle and big spoon stand always ready for those who +at any moment may hunger. There is little to be said about eating in a +Seminole household, therefore, except that when its members eat together +they make a kettle the center of their group and that much of their +eating is done without reference to one another. + +Amusements. + +But one sees the family at home, not only working and sleeping and +eating, but also engaged in amusing itself. Especially among the +children, various sports are indulged in. I took some trouble to learn +what amusements the little Seminole had invented or received. I obtained +a list of them which might as well be that of the white man's as of the +Indian's child. The Seminole has a doll, i.e., a bundle of rags, a stick +with a bit of cloth wrapped about it, or something that serves just as +well as this. The children build little houses for their dolls and name +them "camps." Boys take their bows and arrows and go into the bushes and +kill small birds, and on returning say they have been "turkey-hunting." +Children sit around a small piece of land and, sticking blades of grass +into the ground, name it a "corn field." They have the game of "hide and +seek." They use the dancing rope, manufacture a "see-saw," play "leap +frog," and build a "merry-go-round." Carrying a small stick, they say +they carry a rifle. I noticed some children at play one day sitting near +a dried deer skin, which lay before them stiff and resonant. They had +taken from the earth small tubers about an inch in diameter found on the +roots of a kind of grass and called "deer-food." Through them they had +thrust sharp sticks of the thickness of a match and twice as long, +making what we would call "teetotums." These, by a quick twirl between +the palms of the hands, were set to spinning on the deer skin. The four +children were keeping a dozen or more of these things going. The sport +they called "a dance." + +I need only add that the relations among the various members of the +Indian family in Florida are, as a rule, so well adjusted and observed +that home life goes on without discord. The father is beyond question +master in his home. To the mother belongs a peculiar domestic importance +from her connection with her gens, but both she and her children seek +first to know and to do the will of the actual lord of the household. +The father is the master without being a tyrant; the mother is a subject +without being a slave; the children have not yet learned self-assertion +in opposition to their parents: consequently, there is no constraint in +family intercourse. The Seminole household is cheerful, its members are +mutually confiding, and, in the Indian's way, intimate and affectionate. + + +The Seminole Gens. + +Of this larger body of kindred, existing, as I could see, in very +distinct form among the Seminole, I gained but little definite +knowledge. What few facts I secured are here placed on record. + +After I was enabled to make my inquiry understood, I sought to learn +from my respondent the name of the gens to which each Indian whose name +I had received belonged. As the result, I found that the two hundred and +eight Seminole now in Florida are divided into the following gentes and +in the following numbers: + + 1. Wind gens 21 + 2. Tiger gens 58 + 3. Otter gens 39 + 4. Bird gens 41 + 5. Deer gens 18 + 6. Snake gens 15 + 7. Bear gens 4 + 8. Wolf gens 1 + 9. Alligator gens 1 + Unknown gentes 10 + --- + Total 208 + +I endeavored, also, to learn the name the Indians use for gens or clan, +and was told that it is "Po-ha-po-hum-ko-sin;" the best translation I +can give of the name is "Those of one camp or house." + +Examining my table to find whether or not the word as translated +describes the fact, I notice that, with but one exception, which may +not, after all, prove to be an exception, each of the twenty-two camps +into which the thirty-seven Seminole families are divided is a camp in +which all the persons but the husbands are members of one gens. The +camp at Miami is an apparent exception. There Little Tiger, a rather +important personage, lives with a number of unmarried relatives. A Wolf +has married one of Little Tiger's sisters and lives in the camp, as +properly he should. Lately Tiger himself has married an Otter, but, +instead of leaving his relatives and going to the camp of his wife's +kindred, his wife has taken up her home with his people. + +At the Big Cypress Swamp I tried to discover the comparative rank or +dignity of the various clans. In reply, I was told by one of the Wind +clan that they are graded in the following order. At the northernmost +camp, however, another order appears to have been established. + + _Big Cypress camp._ + + 1. The Wind. + 2. The Tiger. + 3. The Otter. + 4. The Bird. + 5. The Deer. + 6. The Snake. + 7. The Bear. + 8. The Wolf. + + _Northernmost camp._ + + 1. The Tiger. + 2. The Wind. + 3. The Otter. + 4. The Bird. + 5. The Bear. + 6. The Deer. + 7. The Buffalo. + 8. The Snake. + 9. The Alligator. + 10. The Horned Owl. + +This second order was given to me by one of the Bird gens and by one who +calls himself distinctively a "Tallahassee" Indian. The Buffalo and the +Horned Owl clans seem now to be extinct in Florida, and I am not +altogether sure that the Alligator clan also has not disappeared. + +The gens is "a group of relatives tracing a common lineage to some +remote ancestor. This lineage is traced by some tribes through the +mother and by others through the father." "The gens is the grand unit of +social organization, and for many purposes is the basis of governmental +organization." To the gens belong also certain rights and duties. + +Of the characteristics of the gentes of the Florida Seminole, I know +only that a man may not marry a woman of his own clan, that the children +belong exclusively to the mother, and that by birth they are members of +her own gens. So far as duogamy prevails now among the Florida Indians, +I observed that both the wives, in every case, were members of one gens. +I understand also that there are certain games in which men selected +from gentes as such are the contesting participants. + +Fellowhood. + +In this connection I may say that if I was understood in my inquiries +the Seminole have also the institution of "Fellowhood" among them. Major +Powell thus describes this institution: "Two young men agree to be life +friends, 'more than brothers,' confiding without reserve each in the +other and protecting each the other from all harm." + + +The Seminole Tribe. + +Tribal Organization. + +The Florida Seminole, considered as a tribe, have a very imperfect +organization. The complete tribal society of the past was much broken +up through wars with the United States. These wars having ended in the +transfer of nearly the whole of the population to the Indian Territory, +the few Indians remaining in Florida were consequently left in a +comparatively disorganized condition. There is, however, among these +Indians a simple form of government, to which the inhabitants of at +least the three southern settlements submit. The people of Cat Fish Lake +and Cow Creek settlements live in a large measure independent of or +without civil connection with the others. Tcup-ko calls his people +"Tallahassee Indians." He says that they are not "the same" as the Fish +Eating Creek, Big Cypress, and Miami people. I learned, moreover, that +the ceremony of the Green Corn Dance may take place at the three last +named settlements and not at those of the north. The "Tallahassee +Indians" go to Fish Eating Creek if they desire to take part in the +festival. + +Seat Of Government. + +So far as there is a common seat of government, it is located at Fish +Eating Creek, where reside the head chief and big medicine man of the +Seminole, Tus-ta-nug-ge, and his brother, Hos-pa-ta-ki, also a medicine +man. These two are called the Tus-ta-nug-ul-ki, or "great heroes" of the +tribe. At this settlement, annually, a council, composed of minor chiefs +from the various settlements, meets and passes upon the affairs of the +tribe. + +Tribal Officers. + +What the official organization of the tribe is I do not know. My +respondent could not tell me. I learned, in addition to what I have +just written, only that there are several Indians with official titles, +living at each of the settlements, except at the one on Cat Fish Lake. +These were classified as follows: + + Settlements | Chief and | War | Little | Medicine men. + | medicine man. | chiefs | chiefs | + -------------------+---------------+--------+--------+-------------- + Big Cypress Swamp | | 2 | 2 | 1 + Miami River | | 1 | | 1 + Fish Eating Creek | 1 | | | 1 + Cow Creek | | | | 2 + +---------------+--------+--------+-------------- + Total | 1 | 3 | 2 | 5 + -------------------+---------------+--------+--------+-------------- + +Name Of Tribe. + +I made several efforts to discover the tribal name by which these +Indians now designate themselves. The name Seminole they reject. In +their own language it means "a wanderer," and, when used as a term of +reproach, "a coward." Ko-nip-ha-tco said, "Me no Sem-ai-no-le; Seminole +cow, Seminole deer, Seminole rabbit; me no Seminole. Indians gone +Arkansas Seminole." He meant that timidity and flight from danger are +"Seminole" qualities, and that the Indians who had gone west at the +bidding of the Government were the true renegades. This same Indian +informed me that the people south of the Caloosahatchie River, at Miami +and the Big Cypress Swamp call themselves "Kaen-yuk-sa Is-ti-tca-ti," +i.e., "Kaen-yuk-sa red men." Kaen-yuk-sa is their word for what we know as +Florida. It is composed of I-kan-a, "ground," and I-yuk-sa, "point" or +"tip," i.e., point of ground, or peninsula. At the northern camps the +name appropriate to the people there, they say, is "Tallahassee +Indians." + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +Seminole Tribal Life. + + +We may now look at the life of the Seminole in its broader relations +to the tribal organization. Some light has already been thrown on this +subject by the preceding descriptions of the personal characteristics +and social relations of these Indians. But there are other matters to be +considered, as, for example, industries, arts, religion, and the like. + + +Industries. + +Agriculture. + +Prominent among the industries is agriculture. The Florida Indians have +brought one hundred or more acres of excellent land under a rude sort of +cultivation. To each family belong, by right of use and agreement with +other Indians, fields of from one to four acres in extent. The only +agricultural implement they have is the single bladed hoe common on the +southern plantation. However, nothing more than this is required. + +_Soil._-- The ground they select is generally in the interiors of the +rich, hammocks which abound in the swamps and prairies of Southern +Florida. There, with a soil unsurpassed in fertility and needing only to +be cleared of trees, vines, underbrush, &c., one has but to plant corn, +sweet potatoes, melons, or any thing else suited to the climate, and +keep weeds from the growing vegetation, that he may gather a manifold +return. The soil is wholly without gravel, stones, or rocks. It is soft, +black, and very fertile. To what extent the Indians carry agriculture +I do not know. I am under the impression, however, that they do not +attempt to grow enough to provide much against the future. But, as they +have no season in the year wholly unproductive and for which they must +make special provision, their improvidence is not followed by serious +consequences. + +_Corn._--The chief product of their agriculture is corn. This becomes +edible in the months of May and June and at this time it is eaten in +great quantities. Then it is that the annual festival called the "Green +Corn Dance" is celebrated. When the corn ripens, a quantity of it is +laid aside and gradually used in the form of hominy and of what I heard +described as an "exceedingly beautiful meal, white as the finest wheat +flour." This meal is produced by a slow and tedious process. The corn is +hulled and the germ cut out, so that there is only a pure white residue. +This is then reduced by mortar and pestle to an almost impalpable dust. +From this flour a cake is made, which, is said to be very pleasant to +the taste. + +_Sugar cane._--Another product of their agriculture is the sugar cane. +In growing this they are the producers of perhaps the finest sugar cane +grown in America; but they are not wise enough to make it a source of +profit to themselves. It seems to be cultivated more as a passing +luxury. It was at "Old Tommy's" sugar field I met the forty-eight of the +people of the Big Cypress Swamp settlement already mentioned. They had +left their homes that they might have a pleasuring for a few weeks +together, "camping out" and making and eating sirup. The cane which had +been grown there was the largest I or my companion, Capt. F. A. Hendry, +of Myers, had ever seen. It was two inches or more in diameter, and, as +we guessed, seventeen feet or more in length. To obtain the sirup the +Indians had constructed two rude mills, the cylinders of which, however, +were so loosely adjusted that full half the juice was lost in the +process of crushing the cane. The juice was caught in various kinds of +iron and tin vessels, kettles, pails, and cans, and after having been, +strained was boiled until the proper consistency was reached. + + [Illustration: Fig. 68. Sugar cane crusher.] + +At the time we were at the camp quite a quantity of the sirup had been +made. It stood around the boiling place in kettles, large and small, and +in cans bearing the labels of well known Boston and New York packers, +which had been purchased at Myers. Of special interest to me was a +platform near the boiling place, on which lay several deer skins, that +had been taken as nearly whole as possible from the bodies of the +animals, and utilized as holders of the sirup. They were filled with the +sweet stuff, and the ground beneath was well covered by a slow leakage +from them. "Key West Billy" offered me some of the cane juice to drink. +It was clean looking and served in a silver gold lined cup of spotless +brilliancy. It made a welcome and delicious drink. I tasted some of the +sirup also, eating it Indian fashion, i.e., I pared some of their small +boiled wild potatoes and, dipping them into the sweet liquid, ate them. +The potato itself tastes somewhat like a boiled chestnut. + +The sugar cane mill was a poor imitation of a machine the Indians had +seen among the whites. Its cylinders were made of live oak; the driving +cogs were cut from a much harder wood, the mastic, I was told; and these +were so loosely set into the cylinders that I could take them out with +thumb and forefinger. (Fig. 68.) + +It is not necessary to speak in particular of the culture of sweet +potatoes, beans, melons, &c. At best it is very primitive. It is, +however, deserving of mention that the Seminole have around their houses +at least a thousand banana plants. When it is remembered that a hundred +bananas are not an overlarge yield for one plant, it is seen how well +off, so far as this fruit is concerned, these Indians are. + +Hunting. + +Next in importance as an industry of the tribe (if it may be so called) +is hunting. Southern Florida abounds in game and the Indians have only +to seek in order to find it. For this purpose they use the rifle. The +bow and arrow are no longer used for hunting purposes except by the +smaller children. The rifles are almost all the long, heavy, small bore +"Kentucky" rifle. This is economical of powder and lead, and for this +reason is preferred by many to even the modern improved weapons which +carry fixed ammunition. The Seminole sees the white man so seldom and +lives so far from trading posts that he is not willing to be confined to +the use of the prepared cartridge. + +A few breech loading rifles are owned in the tribe. The shot gun is much +disliked by the Seminole. There is only one among them, and that is a +combination of shot gun with rifle. I made a careful count of their fire +arms, and found that they own, of "Kentucky" rifles, 63; breech loading +rifles, 8; shot gun and rifle, 1; revolvers, 2--total, 74. + +_Methods of hunting._--The Seminole always hunt their game on foot. They +can approach a deer to within sixty yards by their method of rapidly +nearing him while he is feeding, and standing perfectly still when he +raises his head. They say that they are able to discover by certain +movements on the part of the deer when the head is about to be lifted. +They stand side to the animal. They believe that they can thus deceive +the deer, appearing to them as stumps or trees. They lure turkeys within +shooting distance by an imitation of the calls of the bird. They leave +small game, such as birds, to the children. One day, while some of our +party were walking near Horse Creek with Ka-tca-la-ni, a covey of quail +whirred out of the grass. By a quick jerk the Indian threw his ramrod +among the birds and billed one. He appeared to regard this feat as +neither accidental nor remarkable. + +I sought to discover how many deer the Seminole annually kill, but +could get no number which I can call trustworthy. I venture twenty-five +hundred as somewhere near a correct estimate. + +Otter hunting is another of the Seminole industries. This animal has +been pursued with the rifle and with the bow and arrow. Lately the +Indians have heard of the trap. When we left Horse Creek, a request was +made by one of them to our guide to purchase for him six otter traps for +use in the Cat Fish Lake camp. + +Fishing. + +Fishing is also a profitable industry. For this the hook and line are +often used; some also use the spoon hook. But it is a common practice +among them to kill the fish with bow and arrow, and in this they are +quite skillful. One morning some boys brought me a bass, weighing +perhaps sis pounds, which one of them had shot with an arrow. + +Stock Raising. + +Stock raising, in a small way, may be called a Seminole industry. +I found that at least fifty cattle, and probably more, are owned by +members of the tribe and that the Seminole probably possess a thousand +swine and five hundred chickens. The latter are of an excellent breed. +At Cat Fish Lake an unusual interest in horses seems now to be +developing. I found there twenty horses. I was told that there are +twelve horses at Fish Eating Creek, and I judge that between thirty-five +and forty of these animals are now in possession of the tribe. + +Koonti. + +The unique industry, in the more limited sense of the word, of the +Seminole is the making of the Koonti flour. Koonti is a root containing +a large percentage of starch. It is said to yield a starch equal to +that of the best Bermuda arrowroot. White men call it the "Indian +bread root," and lately its worth as an article of commerce has been +recognized by the whites. There are now at least two factories in +operation in Southern Florida in which the Koonti is made into a flour +for the white man's market. I was at one such factory at Miami and saw +another near Orlando. I ate of a Koonti pudding at Miami, and can say +that, as it was there prepared and served with milk and guava jelly, it +was delicious. As might be supposed, the Koonti industry, as carried on +by the whites, produces a far finer flour than that which the Indians +manufacture. The Indian process, as I watched it at Horse Creek, was +this: The roots were gathered, the earth was washed from them, and they +were laid in heaps near the "Koonti log." + + [Illustration: Fig. 69. Koonti log.] + +The Koonti log, so called, was the trunk of a large pine tree, in which +a number of holes, about nine inches square at the top, their sides +sloping downward to a point, had been cut side by side. Each of these +holes was the property of some one of the squaws or of the children of +the camp. For each of the holes, which were to serve as mortars, a +pestle made of some hard wood had been furnished. (Fig. 69.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 70. Koonti pestles.] + +The first step in the process was to reduce the washed Koonti to a kind +of pulp. This was done by chopping it into small pieces and filling with +it one of the mortars and pounding it with a pestle. The contents of the +mortar were then laid upon a small platform. Each worker had a platform. +When a sufficient quantity of the root had been pounded the whole mass +was taken to the creek near by and thoroughly saturated with water in a +vessel made of bark. + + [Illustration: Fig. 71. Koonti mash vessel.] + +The pulp was then washed in a straining cloth, the starch of the Koonti +draining into a deer hide suspended below. + + [Illustration: Fig. 72. Koonti strainer.] + +When the starch had been thoroughly washed from the mass the latter was +thrown away, and the starchy sediment in the water in the deerskin left +to ferment. After some days the sediment was taken from the water and +spread upon palmetto leaves to dry. When dried, it was a yellowish white +flour, ready for use. In the factory at Miami substantially this process +is followed, the chief variation from it being that the Koonti is passed +through several successive fermentations, thereby making it purer and +whiter than the Indian product. Improved appliances for the manufacture +are used by the white man. + +The Koonti bread, as I saw it among the Indians, was of a bright orange +color, and rather insipid, though not unpleasant to the taste. It was +saltless. Its yellow color was owing to the fact that the flour had had +but one fermentation. + +Industrial Statistics. + +The following is a summary of the results of the industries now engaged +in by the Florida Indians. It shows what is approximately true of these +at the present time: + + Acres under cultivation 100 + Corn raised bushels 500 + Sugarcane gallons 1,500 + Cattle number owned 50 + Swine do. 1,000 + Chickens do. 500 + Horses do. 35 + Koonti bushels 5,000 + Sweet potatoes do. ... + Melons number 3,000 + + +Arts. + +Industrial Arts. + +In reference to the way in which, the Seminole Indians have met +necessities for invention and have expressed the artistic impulse, +I found little to add to what I have already placed on record. + +_Utensils and implements._--The proximity of this people to the +Europeans for the last three centuries, while it has not led them to +adopt the white man's civilization in matters of government, religion, +language, manners, and customs, has, nevertheless, induced them to +appropriate for their own use some of the utensils, implements, weapons, +&c., of the strangers. For example, it was easy for the ancestors of +these Indians to see that the iron kettle of the white man was better in +every way than their own earthenware pots. Gradually, therefore, the art +of making pottery died out among them, and now, as I believe, there is +no pottery whatever in use among the Florida Indians. They neither make +nor purchase it. They no longer buy even small articles of earthenware, +preferring tin instead, Iron implements likewise have supplanted those +made of stone. Even their word for stone, "Tcat-to," has been applied +to iron. They purchase hoes, hunting knives, hatchets, axes, and, for +special use in their homes, knives nearly two feet in length. With these +long knives they dress timber, chop meat, etc. + +_Weapons._--They continue the use of the bow and arrow, but no longer +for the purposes of war, or, by the adults, for the purposes of hunting. +The rifle serves them much better. It seems to be customary for every +male in the tribe over twelve years of age to provide himself with a +rifle. The bow, as now made, is a single piece of mulberry or other +elastic wood and is from four to six feet in length; the bowstring is +made of twisted deer rawhide; the arrows are of cane and of hard wood +and vary in length from two to four feet; they are, as a rule, tipped +with a sharp conical roll of sheet iron. The skill of the young men in +the use of the bow and arrow is remarkable. + +_Weaving and basket making._--The Seminole are not now weavers. Their +few wants for clothing and bedding are supplied by fabrics manufactured +by white men. They are in a small way, however, basket makers. From the +swamp cane, and sometimes from the covering of the stalk of the fan +palmetto, they manufacture flat baskets and sieves for domestic service. + +_Uses of the palmetto._--In this connection I call attention to the +inestimable value of the palmetto tree to the Florida Indians. From the +trunk of the tree the frames and platforms of their houses are made; of +its leaves durable water tight roofs are made for the houses; with the +leaves their lodges are covered and beds protecting the body from the +dampness of the ground are made; the tough fiber which lies between the +stems of the leaves and the bark furnishes them with material from which +they make twine and rope of great strength and from which they could, +were it necessary, weave cloth for clothing; the tender new growth at +the top of the tree is a very nutritious and palatable article of food, +to be eaten either raw or baked; its taste is somewhat like that of the +chestnut; its texture is crisp like that of our celery stalk. + + [Illustration: Fig. 73. Mortar and pestle.] + +_Mortar and pestle._--The home made mortar and pestle has not yet been +supplanted by any utensil furnished by the trader. This is still the +best mill they have in which to grind their corn. The mortar is made +from a log of live oak (?) wood, ordinarily about two feet in length +and from fifteen to twenty inches in diameter. One end of the log is +hollowed out to quite a depth, and in this, by the hammering of a pestle +made of mastic wood, the corn is reduced to hominy or to the impalpable +flour of which I have spoken. (Fig. 73.) + +_Canoe making._--Canoe making is still one of their industrial arts, the +canoe being their chief means of transportation. The Indian settlements +are all so situated that the inhabitants of one can reach those of the +others by water. The canoe is what is known as a "dugout," made from the +cypress log. + +_Fire making._--The art of fire making by simple friction is now, I +believe, neglected among the Seminole, unless at the starting of the +sacred fire for the Green Corn Dance. A fire is now kindled either by +the common Ma-tci (matches) of the civilized man or by steel and flint, +powder and paper. "Tom Tiger" showed me how he builds a fire when away +from home. He held, crumpled between the thumb and forefinger of the +left hand, a bit of paper. In the folds of the paper he poured from his +powder horn a small quantity of gunpowder. Close beside the paper he +held also a piece of flint. Striking this flint with a bit of steel and +at the same time giving to the left hand a quick upward movement, he +ignited the powder and paper. From this he soon made a fire among the +pitch pine chippings he had previously prepared. + + [Illustration: Fig. 74. Hide stretcher.] + +_Preparation of skins._--I did not learn just how the Indians dress deer +skins, but I observed that they had in use and for sale the dried skin, +with the hair of the animal left on it; the bright yellow buckskin, very +soft and strong; and also the dark red buckskin, which evidently had +passed, in part of its preparation, through smoke. I was told that the +brains of the animal serve an important use in the skin dressing +process. The accompanying sketch shows a simple frame in use for +stretching and drying the skin. (Fig. 74) + +Ornamental Arts. + +In my search for evidence of the working of the art instinct proper, +i.e., in ornamental or fine art, I found but little to add to what +has been already said. I saw but few attempts at ornamentation beyond +those made on the person and on clothing. Houses, canoes, utensils, +implements, weapons, were almost all without carving or painting. In +fact, the only carving I noticed in the Indian country was on a pine +tree near Myers. It was a rude outline of the head of a bull. The local +report is that when the white men began to send their cattle south of +the Caloosahatchie River the Indians marked this tree with this sign. +The only painting I saw was the rude representation of a man, upon the +shaft of one of the pestles used at the Koonti log at Horse Creek. It +was made by one of the girls for her own amusement. + +I have already spoken of the art of making silver ornaments. + +_Music._--Music, as far as I could discover, is but little in use among +the Seminole. Their festivals are few; so few that the songs of the +fathers have mostly been forgotten. They have songs for the Green Corn +Dance; they have lullabys; and there is a doleful song they sing in +praise of drink, which is occasionally heard when the white man has sold +Indians whisky on coming to town. Knowing the motive of the song, I +thought the tune stupid and maudlin. Without pretending to reproduce it +exactly, I remember it as something like this: + + [Illustration: Music] + My precious drink, I fondly love thee. + Standing I take thee. And walk until morning. Yo-wan-ha-de. + +I give a free translation of the Indian words and an approximation to +the tune. The last note in this, as in the lullaby I noted above, is +unmusical and staccato. + + +Religion. + +I could learn but little of the religious faiths and practices existing +among the Florida Indians. I was struck, however, in making my +investigations, by the evident influence Christian teaching has had upon +the native faith. How far it has penetrated the inherited thought of the +Indian I do not know. But, in talking with Ko-nip-ha-tco, he told me +that his people believe that the Koonti root was a gift from God; that +long ago the "Great Spirit" sent Jesus Christ to the earth with the +precious plant, and that Jesus had descended upon the world at Cape +Florida and there given the Koonti to "the red men." In reference to +this tradition, it is to be remembered that during the seventeenth +century the Spaniards had vigorous missions among the Florida Indians. +Doubtless it was from these that certain Christian names and beliefs now +traceable among the Seminole found way into the savage creed and ritual. + +I attempted several times to obtain from my interpreter a statement of +the religious beliefs he had received from his people. I cannot affirm +with confidence that success followed my efforts. + +He told me that his people believe in a "Great Spirit," whose name is +His-a-kit-a-mis-i. This word, I have good reason to believe, means "the +master of breath." The Seminole for breath is His-a-kit-a. + +I cannot be sure that Ko-nip-ha-tco knew anything of what I meant by +the word "spirit." I tried to convey my meaning to him, but I think I +failed. He told me that the place to which Indians go after death is +called "Po-ya-fi-tsa" and that the Indians who have died are the +Pi-ya-fits-ul-ki, or "the people of Po-ya-fi-tsa." That was our nearest +understanding of the word "spirit" or "soul." + +Mortuary Customs. + +As the Seminole mortuary customs are closely connected with their +religious beliefs, it will be in place to record here what I learned of +them. The description refers particularly to the death and burial of a +child. + + [Illustration: Fig. 75. Seminole bier.] + +The preparation for burial began as soon as death had taken place. The +body was clad in a new shirt, a new handkerchief being tied about the +neck and another around the head. A spot of red paint was placed on the +right cheek and one of black upon the left. The body was laid face +upwards. In the left hand, together with a bit of burnt wood, a small +bow about twelve inches in length was placed, the hand lying naturally +over the middle of the body. Across the bow, held by the right hand, +was laid an arrow, slightly drawn. During these preparations, the women +loudly lamented, with hair disheveled. At the same time some men had +selected a place for the burial and made the grave in this manner: +Two palmetto logs of proper size were split. The four pieces were then +firmly placed on edge, in the shape of an oblong box, lengthwise east +and west. In this box a floor was laid, and over this a blanket was +spread. Two men, at next sunrise, carried the body from the camp to the +place of burial, the body being suspended at feet thighs, back, and neck +from a long pole (Fig. 75). The relatives followed. In the grave, which +is called "To-hop-ki"--a word used by the Seminole for "stockade," or +"fort," also, the body was then laid the feet to the east. A blanket was +then carefully wrapped around the body. Over this palmetto leaves were +placed and the grave was tightly closed by a covering of logs. Above the +box a roof was then built. Sticks, in the form of an _X_, were driven +into the earth across the overlying logs; these were connected by a +pole, and this structure was covered thickly with palmetto leaves. +(Fig. 76.) + + [Illustration: Fig. 76. Seminole grave.] + +The bearers of the body then made a large fire at each end of the +"To-hop-ki." With this the ceremony at the grave ended and all returned +to the camp. During that day and for three days thereafter the relatives +remained at home and refrained from work. The fires at the grave were +renewed at sunset by those who had made them, and after nightfall +torches were there waved in the air, that "the bad birds of the night" +might not get at the Indian lying in his grave. The renewal of the fires +and waving of the torches were repeated three days. The fourth day the +fires were allowed to die out. Throughout the camp "medicine" had been +sprinkled at sunset for three days. On the fourth day it was said that +the Indian "had gone." From that time the mourning ceased and the +members of the family returned to their usual occupations. + +The interpretation of the ceremonies just mentioned, as given me, is +this: The Indian was laid in his grave to remain there, it was believed, +only until the fourth day. The fires at head and feet, as well as the +waving of the torches, were to guard him from the approach of "evil +birds" who would harm him. His feet were placed toward the east, that +when he arose to go to the skies he might go straight to the sky path, +which commenced at the place of the sun's rising; that were he laid with +the feet in any other direction he would not know when he rose what path +to take and he would be lost in the darkness. He had with him his bow +and arrow, that he might procure food on his way. The piece of burnt +wood in his hand was to protect him from the "bad birds" while he was on +his skyward journey. These "evil birds" are called Ta-lak-i-clak-o. The +last rite paid to the Seminole dead is at the end of four moons. At that +time the relatives go to the To-hop-ki and cut from around it the +overgrowing grass. A widow lives with disheveled hair for the first +twelve moons of her widowhood. + +Green Corn Dance. + +The one institution at present in which the religious beliefs of the +Seminole find special expression is what is called the "Green Corn +Dance." It is the occasion for an annual purification and rejoicing. +I could get no satisfactory description of the festival. No white man, +so I was told, has seen it, and the only Indian I met who could in any +manner speak English, made but an imperfect attempt to describe it. In +fact, he seemed unwilling to talk about it. He told me, however, that as +the season for holding the festival approaches the medicine men assemble +and, through their ceremonies, decide when it shall take place, and, if +I caught his meaning, determine also how long the dance shall continue. +Others, on the contrary, told me that the dance is always continued for +four days. + +Fifteen days previous to the festival heralds are sent from the lodge +of the medicine men to give notice to all the camps of the day when the +dance will commence. Small sticks are thereupon hung up in each camp, +representing the number of days between that date and the day of the +beginning of the dance. With the passing of each day one of these sticks +is thrown away. The day the last one is cast aside the families go to +the appointed place. At the dancing ground they find the selected space +arranged as in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 77). + +The evening of the first day the ceremony of taking the "Black Drink," +Pa-sa-is-kit-a, is endured. This drink was described to me as having +both a nauseating smell and taste. It is probably a mixture similar to +that used by the Creek in the last century at a like ceremony. It acts +as both an emetic and a cathartic, and it is believed among the Indians +that unless one drinks of it he will be sick at some time in the year, +and besides that he cannot safely eat of the green corn of the feast. +During the drinking the dance begins and proceeds; in it the medicine +men join. + +At that time the Medicine Song is sung. My Indian would not repeat +this song for me. He declared that any one who sings the Medicine Song, +except at the Green Corn Dance or as a medicine man, will certainly meet +with some harm. That night, after the "Black Drink" has had its effect, +the Indians sleep. The next morning they eat of the green corn. The day +following is one of fasting, but the next day is one of great feasting, +"Hom-pi-ta-clak-o," in which "Indian eat all time," "Hom-pis-yak-i-ta." + + [Illustration: Fig. 77. Green Corn Dance.] + + ---------------------------------------------------------------- + ++++++ + N. Squaws + | + -+-E "O-PUN-KA-TO-LO-KA-TI" + | or the Dance Circle + S. "HIL-LIS-WA-MA-TOE-UL-KI" + Men who watch the + +--+ \ | / medicine fire + | | -- O -- ++ + | | / | \ X +++ + | | Medicine Medicine + +--+ The Fire or Fire Men + "TEOK-KO-CLACO" "O-PUN-KA-TOT-KIT-A" + House where the + warriors sit. + Squaws + ++++++ + ---------------------------------------------------------------- + +Use Of Medicines. + +Concerning the use by the Indians of medicine against sickness, I +learned only that they are in the habit of taking various herbs for +their ailments. What part incantation or sorcery plays in the healing +of disease I do not know. Nor did I learn what the Indians think of the +origin and effects of dreams. Me-le told me that he knows of a plant the +leaves of which, eaten, will cure the bite of a rattlesnake, and that he +knows also of a plant which is an antidote to the noxious effects of the +poison ivy or so-called poison oak. + + +General Observations. + +I close this chapter by putting upon record a few general observations, +as an aid to future investigation into Seminole life. + +Standard of Value. + +The standard of value among the Florida Indians is now taken from the +currency of the United States. The unit they seem to have adopted, at +least at the Big Cypress Swamp settlement, is twenty-five cents, which +they call "Kan-cat-ka-hum-kin" (literally, "one mark on the ground"). At +Miami a trader keeps his accounts with the Indians in single marks or +pencil strokes. For example, an Indian brings to him buck skins, for +which the trader allows twelve "chalks." The Indian, not wishing then to +purchase anything, receives a piece of paper marked in this way: + + "IIII--IIII--IIII. + J. W. E. owes Little Tiger $3." + +At his next visit the Indian may buy five "marks" worth of goods. The +trader then takes the paper and returns it to Little Tiger changed as +follows: + + "IIII--III. + J. W. E. owes Little Tiger + $1.75." + +Thus the account is kept until all the "marks" are crossed off, when +the trader takes the paper into his own possession. The value of the +purchases made at Miami by the Indians, I was informed, is annually +about $2,000. This is, however, an amount larger than would be the +average for the rest of the tribe, for the Miami Indians do a +considerable business in the barter and sale of ornamental plumage. + +What the primitive standard of value among the Seminole was is suggested +to me by their word for money, "Tcat-to Ko-na-wa." "Ko-na-wa" means +beads, and "Tcat-to," while it is the name for iron and metal, is also +the name for stone. "Tcat-to" probably originally meant stone. Tcat-to +Ko-na-wa (i.e., stone beads) was, then, the primitive money. With +"Hat-ki," or white, added, the word means silver; with "La-ni," or +yellow, added, it means gold. For greenbacks they use the words +"Nak-ho-tsi Tcat-to Ko-na-wa," which is, literally, "paper stone beads." + +Their methods of measuring are now, probably, those of the white man. I +questioned my respondent closely, but could gain no light upon the terms +he used as equivalents for our measurements. + +Divisions Of Time. + +I also gained but little knowledge of their divisions of time. They have +the year, the name for which is the same as that used for summer, and in +their year are twelve months, designated, respectively: + + 1. Cla-futs-u-tsi, Little Winter. + 2. Ho-ta-li-ha-si, Wind Moon. + 3. Ho-ta-li-ha-si-clak-o, Big Wind Moon. + 4. Ki-ha-su-tsi, Little Mulberry Moon. + 5. Ki-ha-si-clat-o, Big Mulberry Moon. + 6. Ka-too-ha-si. + 7. Hai-yu-tsi. + 8. Hai-yu-tsi-clak-o. + 9. O-ta-wus-ku-tsi. + 10. O-ta-wus-ka-clak-o. + 11. I-ho-li. + 12. Cla-fo-clak-o, Big Winter. + +I suppose that the spelling of these words could be improved, but I +reproduce them phonetically as nearly as I can, not making what to me +would be desirable corrections. The months appear to be divided simply +into days, and these are, in part at least, numbered by reference to +successive positions of the moon at sunset. When I asked Tael-la-haes-ke +how long he would stay at his present camp, he made reply by pointing, +to the new moon in the west and sweeping his hand from west to east to +where the moon would be when he should go home. He meant to answer, +about ten days thence. The day is divided by terms descriptive of the +positions of the sun in the sky from dawn to sunset. + +Numeration. + +The Florida Indians can count, by their system, indefinitely. Their +system of numeration is quinary, as will appear from the following list: + + 1. Hum-kin. + 2. Ho-_ko-lin_. + 3. To-_tei-nin_. + 4. _Os-tin_. + 5. Tsaq-ke-pin. + 6. I-pa-kin. + 7. _Ko-lo_-pa-kin. + 8. _Tci-na_-pa-kin + 9. _Os-ta_-pa-kin. + 10. Pa-lin. + 11. Pa-lin-hum-kin, _i.e._, ten one, &c. + 20. Pa-li-ho-ko-lin, _i.e._, two tens. + +As a guide towards a knowledge of the primitive manner of counting the +method used by an old man in his intercourse with me will serve. He +wished to count eight. He first placed the thumb of the right hand upon +the little finger of the left, then the right forefinger upon the next +left hand finger, then the thumb on the next finger, and the forefinger +on the next, and then the thumb upon the thumb; leaving now the thumb +of the right hand resting upon the thumb of the left, he counted the +remaining numbers on the right hand, using for this purpose the fore +and middle fingers of the left; finally he shut the fourth and little +fingers of the right hand down upon its palm, and raising his hands, +thumbs touching, the counted fingers outspread, he showed me eight as +the number of horses of which I had made inquiry. + +Sense Of Color. + +Concerning the sense of color among these Indians, I found that my +informant at least possessed it to only a very limited degree. Black and +white were clear to his sight, and for these he had appropriate names +Also for brown, which was to him a "yellow black," and for gray, which +was a "white black." For some other colors his perception was distinct +and the names he used proper. But a name for blue he applied to many +other colors, shading from violet to green. A name for red followed a +succession of colors all the way from scarlet to pink. A name for yellow +he applied to dark orange and thence to a list of colors through to +yellow's lightest and most delicate tint. I thought that at one time I +had found him making a clear distinction between green and blue, but as +I examined further I was never certain that he would not exchange the +names when asked about one or the other color. + +Education. + +The feeling of the tribe is antagonistic to even such primary education +as reading, writing, and calculation. About ten years ago an attempt, +the only attempt in modern times, to establish schools among them was +made by Rev. Mr. Frost, now at Myers, Fla. He did not succeed. + +Slavery. + +By reference to the population table, it will be noticed that there are +three negroes and seven persons of mixed breed among the Seminole. It +has been said that these negroes were slaves and are still held as +slaves by the Indians. I saw nothing and could not hear of anything +to justify this statement. One Indian is, I know, married to a negress, +and the two negresses in the tribe live apparently on terms of perfect +equality with the other women. Me-le goes and comes as he sees fit. +No one attempts to control his movements. It may be that long ago the +Florida Indians held negroes as slaves, but my impression is to the +contrary. The Florida Indians, I think, rather offered a place of refuge +for fugitive bondmen and gradually made them members of their tribe. + +Health. + +In the introduction to this report I said that the health of the +Seminole is good. As confirming this statement, I found that the deaths +during the past year had been very few. I had trustworthy information +concerning the deaths of only four persons. One of these deaths was of +an old woman, O-pa-ka, at the Fish Eating Creek settlement; another was +of Tael-la-haes-ke's wife, at Cat Fish Lake settlement; another was of a +sister of Tael-la-haes-ke; and the last was of a child, at Cow Creek +settlement. At the Big Cypress Swamp settlement I was assured that no +deaths had occurred either there or at Miami during the year. On the +contrary, however, I was told by some white people at Miami that several +children had died at the Indian camp near there in the year past. +Tael-la-haes-ke said to me, "Twenty moons ago, heap pickaninnies die!" And +I was informed by others that about two years before there had been +considerable fatality among children, as the consequence of a sort of +epidemic at one of the northern camps. Admitting the correctness of +these reports, I have no reason to modify my general statement that the +health of the Seminole is good and that they are certainly increasing +their number. Their appearance indicates excellent health and their +environment is in their favor. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Environment Of The Seminole. + + +Nature. + +Southern Florida, the region to which most of the Seminole have been +driven by the advances of civilization, is, taken all in all, unlike any +other part of our country. In climate it is subtropical; in character +of soil it shows a contrast of comparative barrenness and abounding +fertility; and in topography it is a plain, with hardly any perceptible +natural elevations or depressions. The following description, based upon +the notes of my journey to the Big Cypress Swamp, indicates the +character of the country generally. I left Myers, on the Caloosahatchie +River, a small settlement composed principally of cattlemen, one morning +in the month of February. Even in February the sun was so hot that +clothing was a burden. As we started upon our journey, which was to be +for a distance of sixty miles or more, my attention was called to the +fact that the harness of the horse attached to my buggy was without the +breeching. I was told that this part of the harness would not be needed, +so level should we find the country. Our way, soon after leaving the +main street of Myers, entered pine woods. The soil across which we +traveled at first was a dry, dazzling white sand, over which, was +scattered a growth of dwarf palmetto. The pine trees were not near +enough together to shade us from the fierce, sun. This sparseness of +growth, and comparative absence of shade, is one marked characteristic +of Florida's pine woods. Through this thin forest we drove all the day. +The monotonous scenery was unchanged except that at a short distance +from Myers it was broken by swamps and ponds. So far as the appearance +of the country around as indicated, we could not tell whether we were +two miles or twenty from our starting point. Nearly half our way during +the first day lay through water, and yet we were in the midst of what is +called the winter "dry season." The water took the shape here of a swamp +and there of a pond, but where the swamp or the pond began or ended it +was scarcely possible to tell, one passed by almost imperceptible +degrees from dry land to moist and from moist land into pool or marsh. +Generally, however, the swamps were filled with a growth of cypress +trees. These cypress groups were well defined in the pine woods by the +closeness of their growth and the sharpness of the boundary of the +clusters. Usually, too, the cypress swamps were surrounded by rims of +water grasses. Six miles from Myers we crossed a cypress swamp, in which +the water at its greatest depth was from one foot to two feet deep. +A wagon road had been cut through the dense growth of trees, and the +trees were covered with hanging mosses and air plants. + +The ponds differed from the swamps only in being treeless. They are open +sheets of water surrounded by bands of greater or less width of tall +grasses. The third day, between 30 and 40 miles from Myers, we left the +pine tree lands and started across what are called in Southern Florida +the "prairies." These are wide stretches covered with grass and with +scrub palmetto and dotted at near intervals with what are called pine +"islands" or "hammocks" and cypress swamps. The pine island or hammock +is a slight elevation of the soil, rising a few inches above the dead +level. The cypress swamp, on the contrary, seems to have its origin only +in a slight depression in the plain. Where there is a ring of slight +depression, inclosing a slight elevation, there is generally a +combination of cypress and pine and oak growth. For perhaps 15 miles we +traveled that third day over this expanse of grass; most of the way we +were in water, among pine islands, skirting cypress swamps and saw-grass +marshes, and being jolted through thick clumps of scrub palmetto. Before +nightfall we reached the district occupied by the Indians, passing there +into what is called the "Bad Country," an immense expanse of submerged +land, with here and there islands rising from it, as from the drier +prairies. We had a weird ride that afternoon and night: Now we passed +through saw-grass 5 or 6 feet high and were in water 6 to 20 inches in +depth; then we encircled some impenetrable jungle of vines and trees, +and again we took our way out upon a vast expanse of water and grass. At +but one place in a distance of several miles was it dry enough for one +to step upon the ground without wetting the feet. We reached that place +at nightfall, but found no wood there for making a fire. We were 4 miles +then from any good camping ground. Captain Hendry asked our Indian +companion whether he could take us through the darkness to a place +called the "Buck Pens." Ko-nip-ha-tco said he could. Under his guidance +we started in the twilight, the sky covered with clouds. The night which +followed was starless, and soon we were splashing through a country +which, to my eyes, was trackless. There were visible to me no landmarks. +But our Indian, following a trail made by his own people, about nine +o'clock brought us to the object of our search. A black mass suddenly +appeared in the darkness. It was the pine island we were seeking, the +"Buck Pens." + +On our journey that day we had crossed a stream, so called, the +Ak-ho-lo-wa-koo-tci. So level is the country, however, and so sluggish +the flow of water there that this river, where we crossed it, was more +like a swamp than a stream. Indeed, in Southern Florida the streams, +for a long distance from what would be called their sources, are more a +succession of swamps than well defined currents confined to channels by +banks. They have no real shores until they are well on their way towards +the ocean. + +Beyond the point I reached, on the edge of the Big Cypress Swamp, lie +the Everglades proper, a wide district with, only deeper water and +better defined islands than those which mark the "Bad Country" and the +"Devil's Garden" I had entered. + +The description I have given refers to that part of the State of Florida +lying south of the Caloosahatchee River. It is in this watery prairie +and Everglade region that we find the immediate environment of most of +the Seminole Indians. Of the surroundings of the Seminole north of the +Caloosahatchee there is but little to say in modification of what has +already been said. Near the Fish Eating Creek settlement there is a +somewhat drier prairie land than that which I have just described. The +range of barren sand hills which extends from the north along the middle +of Florida to the headwaters of the Kissimmee River ends at Cat Fish +Lake. Excepting these modifications, the topography of the whole Indian +country of Florida is substantially the same as that which we traversed +on the way from Myers into the Big Cypress Swamp and the Everglades. + +Over this wide and seeming level of land and water, as I have said, +there is a subtropical climate. I visited the Seminole in midwinter; +yet, for all that my northern senses could discover, we were in the +midst of summer. The few deciduous trees there were having a midyear +pause, but trees with dense foliage, flowers, fruit, and growing grass +were to be seen everywhere. The temperature was that of a northern June. +By night we made our beds on the ground without discomfort from cold, +and by day we were under the heat of a summer sun. There was certainly +nothing in the climate to make one feel the need of more clothing or +shelter than would protect from excessive heat or rain. + +Then the abundance of food, both animal and vegetable, obtainable in +that region seemed to me to do away with the necessity, on the part of +the people living there, for a struggle for existence. As I have already +stated, the soil is quite barren over a large part of the district; but, +on the other hand, there is also in many places a fertility of soil that +cannot be surpassed. Plantings are followed by superabundant harvests, +and the hunter is richly rewarded. But I need not repeat what has +already been said; it suffices to note that the natural environment +of the Seminole is such that ordinary effort serves to supply them, +physically, with more than they need. + + +Man. + +When we consider, in connection with these facts, what I have also +before said, that these Indians are in no exceptional danger from wild +animals or poisonous reptiles, that they need not specially guard +against epidemic disease, and when we remember that they are native to +whatever influences might affect injuriously persons from other parts of +the country, we can easily see how much more favorably situated for +physical prosperity they are than others of their kind. In fact, nature +has made physical life so easy to them that their great danger lies in +the possible want or decadence of the moral, strength needed to maintain +them in a vigorous use of their powers. This moral strength to some +degree they have, but in large measure it had its origin in and has been +preserved by their struggles with man rather than with nature. The wars +of their ancestors, extending over nearly two centuries, did the most to +make them the brave and proud people they are. It is through the effects +of these chiefly that they have been kept from becoming indolent and +effeminate. They are now strong, fearless, haughty, and independent. +But the near future is to initiate a new epoch in their history, an era +in which their career may be the reverse of what it has been. Man is +becoming a factor of new importance in their environment. The moving +lines of the white population are closing in upon the land of the +Seminole. There is no farther retreat to which they can go. It is their +impulse to resist the intruders, but some of them are at last becoming +wise enough to know that they cannot contend successfully with the white +man. It is possible that even their few warriors may make an effort to +stay the oncoming hosts, but ultimately they will either perish in the +futile attempt or they will have to submit to a civilization which, +until now, they have been able to repel and whose injurious +accompaniments may degrade and destroy them. Hitherto the white man's +influence has been comparatively of no effect except in arousing in the +Indian his more violent passions, and in exciting him to open hostility. +For more than three centuries the European has been face to face with +the Florida Indian and the two have never really been friends. Through +the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the peninsula was the scene of +frequently renewed warfare. Spaniard, Frenchman, Englishman, and +Spaniard, in turn, kept the country in an unsettled state, and when the +American Union received the province from Spain, sixty years ago, it +received with it, in the tribe of the Seminole, an embittered and +determined race of hostile subjects. This people our Government has +never been able to conciliate or to conquer. A different Indian policy, +or a different administration of it, might have prevented the disastrous +wars of the last half century; but, as all know, the Seminole have +always lived within our borders as aliens. It is only of late years, and +through natural necessities, that any friendly intercourse of white man +and Indian has been secured. The Indian has become too weak to contend +successfully against his neighbor and the white man has learned enough +to refrain from arousing the vindictiveness of the savage. The few white +men now on the border line in Florida are, with only some exceptions, +cattle dealers or traders seeking barter with the red men. The cattlemen +sometimes meet the Indians on the prairies and are friendly with them +for the sake of their stock, which often strays into the Seminole +country. The other places of contact of the whites and Seminole are +the settlements of Myers, Miami, Bartow, Fort Meade, and Tampa, all, +however, centers of comparatively small population. To these places, +at infrequent intervals., the Indians go for purposes of trade. + +The Indians have appropriated for their service some of the products of +European civilization, such as weapons, implements, domestic utensils, +fabrics for clothing, &c. Mentally, excepting a few religious ideas +which they received long ago from the teaching of Spanish missionaries +and, in the southern settlements, excepting some few Spanish words, the +Seminole have accepted and appropriated practically nothing from, the +white man. The two peoples remain, as they always have been, separate +and independent. Up to the present, therefore, the human environment +has had no effect upon the Indians aside from that which has just been +noticed, except to arouse them to war and to produce among them war's +consequences. + +But soon a great and rapid change must take place. The large immigration +of a white population into Florida, and especially the attempts at +present being made to drain Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, make it +certain, as I have said, that the Seminole is about to enter a future +unlike any past he has known. But now that new factors are beginning to +direct his career, now that he can no longer retreat, now that he can +no longer successfully contend, now that he is to be forced into close, +unavoidable contact with men he has known only as enemies, what will he +become? If we anger him, he still can do much harm before we can conquer +him; but if we seek, by a proper policy, to do him justice, he yet may +be made our friend and ally. Already, to the dislike of the old men of +the tribe, some young braves show a willingness to break down the +ancient barriers between them and our people, and I believe it possible +that with encouragement, at a time not far distant, all these Indians +may become our friends, forgetting their tragic past in a peaceful and +prosperous future. + + + + +INDEX + + +Big Cypress Swamp Seminole settlement 477, 478, 499, 507, 529 +Billy, brother of Key West Billy 492-494, 499, 528 +Brown, Lieutenant, aid of, among Seminole 489 +Catfish Lake Seminole settlement 477, 478, 509 +Cow Creek Seminole settlement 477, 478 +Cypress swamps, Florida 527-529 +Devil's Garden, Florida 478 +Hendry, F. A., aid in Florida 492, 511, 528 +Key West Billy 484, 485 +Koonti, preparation of 513-516 + Seminole tradition of origin of 519 +Me-le the Seminole 489, 490 +Miami River Seminole settlement 477, 478 + + + +Errata + +(Table of Contents) +Use of Medicines... + _missing from printed text_ +(Green Corn Dance diagram) +"TEOK-KO-CLACO" + _may be error for -CLAC-O_ + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Seminole Indians of Florida, by Clay MacCauley + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA *** + +***** This file should be named 19155.txt or 19155.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/9/1/5/19155/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Carlo Traverso, and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at +http://gallica.bnf.fr + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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