* * * * *

 Smithsonian Institution--Bureau of Ethnology. 

 THE SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA. 

 by

 CLAY MacCAULEY. 

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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 byyou to inquire into the condition and to ascertain the number of theIndians commonly known as the Seminole then in that State. I spent partof the months of January, February, and March in an endeavor toaccomplish this purpose. I have the honor to embody the result of mywork in the following report. 

On account of causes beyond my control the paper does not treat of theseIndians as fully as I had intended it should. Owing to the ignoranceprevailing even in Florida of the locations of the homes of the Seminoleand also to the absence of routes of travel in Southern Florida, muchof my time at first was consumed in reaching the Indian country. Onarriving there, I found myself obliged to go among the Indians ignorantof their language and without an interpreter able to secure meintelligible interviews with them except in respect to the commonestthings. I was compelled, therefore, to rely upon observation and uponvery simple, perhaps sometimes misunderstood, speech for what I havehere placed on record. But while the report is only a sketch of asubject that would well reward thorough study, it may be found topossess value as a record of facts concerning this little-known remnantof a once powerful people. 

I have secured, I think, a correct census of the Florida Seminole byname, sex, age, gens, and place of living. I have endeavored to presenta faithful portraiture of their appearance and personal characteristics, and have enlarged upon their manners and customs, as individuals and asa society, as much as the material at my command will allow; but underthe disadvantageous circumstances to which allusion has already beenmade, I have been able to gain little more than a superficial andpartial knowledge of their social organization, of the elaboration amongthem of the system of gentes, of their forms and methods of government, of their tribal traditions and modes of thinking, of their religiousbeliefs and practices, and of many other things manifesting what isdistinctive in the life of a people. For these reasons I submit thisreport more as a guide for future investigation than as a completedresult. 

At the beginning of my visit I found but one Seminole with whom I couldhold even the semblance of an English conversation. To him I am indebtedfor a large part of the material here collected. To him, in particular, I owe the extensive Seminole vocabulary now in possession of the Bureauof Ethnology. The knowledge of the Seminole language which I graduallyacquired enabled me, in my intercourse with other Indians, to verify andincrease the information I had received from him. 

In conclusion, I hope that, notwithstanding the unfortunate delays whichhave occurred in the publication of this report, it will still be foundto add something to our knowledge of this Indian tribe not without valueto those who make man their peculiar study. 

 Very respectfully, CLAY MacCAULEY. 

 Maj. J. W. POWELL, _Director Bureau of Ethnology. _

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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 asSeminole, two hundred and eight. They constituted thirty-seven families, living in twenty-two camps, which were gathered into five widelyseparated groups or settlements. These settlements, from the mostprominent natural features connected with them, I have named, (1) TheBig Cypress Swamp settlement; (2) Miami River settlement; (3) FishEating Creek settlement; (4) Cow Creek settlement; and (5) Cat Fish Lakesettlement. Their locations are, severally: The first, in Monroe County, in what is called the “Devil’s Garden, ” on the northwestern edge of theBig Cypress Swamp, from fifteen to twenty miles southwest of LakeOkeechobee; the second, in Dade County, on the Little Miami River, notfar from Biscayne Bay, and about ten miles north of the site of whatwas, during the great Seminole war, Fort Dallas; the third, in ManateeCounty, on a creek which empties from the west into Lake Okeechobee, probably five miles from its mouth; the fourth, in Brevard County, on astream running southward, at a point about fifteen miles northeast ofthe entrance of the Kissimmee River into Lake Okeechobee; and the fifth, on a small lake in Polk County, lying nearly midway between lakes Pierceand Rosalie, towards the headwaters of the Kissimmee River. Thesettlements are from forty to seventy miles apart, in an otherwisealmost uninhabited region, which is in area about sixty by one hundredand eighty miles. The camps of which each settlement is composed lie atdistances from one another varying from a half mile to two or moremiles. In tabular form the population of the settlements appears asfollows:

 --------------+---+------------------------------------------------- | | Population. | +-------------------------------------+------+---- | | Divided according to age and sex. | | T | C | | | o | a +-----+-----+-----+-----+-------+-----+Résumé| 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 of112 males and 96 females, an excess of males over females of 16. Thisexcess appears in each of the settlements, excepting that of Fish EatingCreek, a fact the more noteworthy, from its relation to the future ofthe tribe, since polygamous, or certainly duogamous, marriage generallyprevails as a tribal custom, at least at the Miami River and the CatFish Lake settlements. It will also be observed that between twenty andsixty years of age, or the ordinary range of married life, there are 38men and 46 women; or, if the women above fifteen years of age areincluded as wives for the men over twenty years of age, there are 38 menand 56 women. Now, almost all these 56 women are the wives of the 38men. Notice, however, the manner in which the children of these peopleare separated in sex. At present there are, under twenty years of age, 66 boys, and, under fifteen years of age, but 31 girls; or, settingaside the 12 boys who are under five years of age, there are, as futurepossible husbands and wives, 54 boys between five and twenty years ofage and 31 girls under fifteen years of age--an excess of 23 boys. For apolygamous society, this excess in the number of the male sex certainlypresents a puzzling problem. The statement I had from some cattlemen inmid-Florida I have thus found true, namely, that the Seminole areproducing more men than women. What bearing this peculiarity will haveupon the future of these Indians can only be guessed at. It is beyondquestion, however, that the tribe is increasing in numbers, andincreasing in the manner above described. 

There is no reason why the tribe should not increase, and increaserapidly, if the growth in numbers be not checked by the non-birth offemales. The Seminole have not been at war for more than twenty years. Their numbers are not affected by the attacks of wild animals or noxiousreptiles. They are not subject to devastating diseases. But once duringthe last twenty years, as far as I could learn, has anything like anepidemic afflicted them. Besides, at all the settlements except thenorthernmost, the one at Cat Fish Lake, there is an abundance of food, both animal and vegetable, easily obtained and easily prepared foreating. The climate in which these Indians live is warm and equablethroughout the year. They consequently do not need much clothing orshelter. They are not what would be called intemperate, nor are theylicentious. The “sprees” in which they indulge when they make theirvisits to the white man’s settlements are too infrequent to warrant usin classing them as intemperate. Their sexual morality is a matter ofcommon notoriety. The white half-breed does not exist among the FloridaSeminole, and nowhere could I learn that the Seminole woman is otherthan virtuous and modest. The birth of a white half-breed would befollowed by the death of the Indian mother at the hands of her ownpeople. The only persons of mixed breed among them are children ofIndian fathers by negresses who have been adopted into the tribe. Thushealth, climate, food, and personal habits apparently conduce to anincrease in numbers. The only explanation I can suggest of the fact thatthere are at present but 208 Seminole in Florida is that at the close ofthe last war which the United States Government waged on these Indiansthere were by no means so many of them left in the State as is popularlysupposed. As it is, there are now but 17 persons of the tribe over sixtyyears of age, and no unusual mortality has occurred, certainly among theadults, during the last twenty years. Of the 84 persons between twentyand 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 halfthe whole population. The population tables of the Florida Indianspresent, therefore, some facts upon which it may be interesting tospeculate. 

CHAPTER I. 

Personal Characteristics. 

It will be convenient for me to describe the Florida Seminole as theypresent themselves, first as individuals, and next as members of asociety. I know it is impossible to separate, really, the individual assuch from the individual as a member of society; nevertheless, there isthe man as we see him, having certain characteristics which, we callpersonal, or his own, whencesoever derived, having a certain physiqueand certain, distinguishing psychical qualities. As such I will firstattempt to describe the Seminole. Then we shall be able the better tolook 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 histribe. 

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 muscularpower and constitutional ability to endure they excel. While thesequalities distinguish, with a few exceptions, the men of the wholetribe, they are particularly characteristic of the two most widelyspread of the families of which the tribe is composed. These are theTiger and Otter clans, which, proud of their lines of descent, have beenpreserved through a long and tragic past with exceptional freedom fromadmixture with degrading blood. Today their men might be taken as typesof physical excellence. The physique of every Tiger warrior especially Imet would furnish proof of this statement. The Tigers are dark, copper-colored fellows, over six feet in height, with limbs in goodproportion; their hands and feet well shaped and not very large; theirstature erect; their bearing a sign of self-confident power; theirmovements deliberate, persistent, strong. Their heads are large, andtheir foreheads full and marked. An almost universal characteristic ofthe Tiger’s face is its squareness, a widened and protrudingunder-jawbone giving this effect to it. Of other features, I noticedthat under a large forehead are deep set, bright, black eyes, small, butexpressive of inquiry and vigilance; the nose is slightly aquiline andsensitively 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 havingextraordinary ability to endure and to achieve. Two of the warriorspermitted me to manipulate the muscles of their bodies. Under my touchthese were more like rubber than flesh. Noticeable among all are thelarge calves of their legs, the size of the tendons of their lowerlimbs, and the strength of their toes. I attribute this exceptionaldevelopment to the fact that they are not what we would call “horseIndians” and that they hunt barefoot over their wide domain. The samecauses, perhaps, account for the only real deformity I noticed in theSeminole physique, namely, the diminutive toe-nails, and for the heavy, cracked, and seamed skin which covers the soles of their feet. The feetbeing 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 awhole, in their physique the Seminole warriors, especially the men ofthe Tiger and Otter gentes, are admirable. Even among the children thisphysical superiority is seen. To illustrate, one morning Ko-i-ha-tco’sson, Tin-fai-yai-ki, a tall, slender boy, not quite twelve years old, shouldered a heavy “Kentucky” rifle, left our camp, and followed in hisfather’s long footsteps for a day’s hunt. After tramping all day, atsunset he reappeared in the camp, carrying slung across his shoulders, in addition to rifle and accouterments, a deer weighing perhaps fiftypounds, a weight he had borne for miles. The same boy, in one day, wentwith some older friends to his permanent home, 20 miles away, andreturned. There are, as I have said, exceptions to this rule of unusualphysical size and strength, but these are few; so few that, disregardingthem, we may pronounce the Seminole men handsome and exceptionallypowerful. 

Physique of the Women. 

The women to a large extent share the qualities of the men. Some areproportionally tall and handsome, though, curiously enough, many, perhaps a majority, are rather under than over the average height ofwomen. As a rule, they exhibit great bodily vigor. Large or small, theypossess regular and agreeable features, shapely and well developedbodies, and they show themselves capable of long continued and severephysical exertion. Indeed, the only Indian women I have seen withattractive features and forms are among the Seminole. I would evenventure to select from among these Indians three persons whom I could, without much fear of contradiction, present as types respectively of ahandsome, a pretty, and a comely woman. Among American Indians, I amconfident that the Seminole women are of the first rank. 

Clothing. 

But how is this people clothed? While the clothing of the Seminole issimple and scanty, it is ample for his needs and suitable to the life heleads. The materials of which the clothing is made are now chieflyfabrics manufactured by the white man: calico, cotton cloth, ginghams, and sometimes flannels. They also use some materials prepared bythemselves, as deer and other skins. Of ready made articles for wearfound in the white trader’s store, they buy small woolen shawls, brilliantly colored cotton handkerchiefs, now and then light woolenblankets, 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, aneckerchief, a turban, a breech cloth, and, very rarely, moccasins. On but one Indian in camp did I see more than this; on many, less. Theshirt is made of some figured or striped cotton cloth, generally ofquiet colors. It hangs from the neck to the knees, the narrow, rollingcollar being closely buttoned about the neck, the narrow wristbands ofthe roomy sleeves buttoned about the wrists. The garment opens in frontfor a few inches, downward from the collar, and is pocketless. A belt ofleather or buckskin usually engirdles the man’s waist, and from it aresuspended one or more pouches, in which powder, bullets, pocket knife, a piece of flint, a small quantity of paper, and like things for use inhunting are carried. From the belt hang also one or more hunting knives, each nearly 10 inches in length. I questioned one of the Indians abouthaving no pockets in his shirt, pointing out to him the wealth in thisrespect of the white man’s garments, and tried to show him how, on hisshirt, as on mine, these convenient receptacles could be placed, and towhat straits he was put to carry his pipe, money, and trinkets. Heshowed little interest in my proposed improvement on his dress. 

Having no pockets, the Seminole is obliged to submit to severalinconveniences; for instance, he wears his handkerchief about his neck. I have seen as many as six, even eight, handkerchiefs tied around histhroat, their knotted ends pendant over his breast; as a rule, they arebright red and yellow things, of whose possession and number he is quiteproud. Having no pockets, the Seminole, only here and there, oneexcepted, carries whatever money he obtains from time to time in aknotted corner of one or more of his handkerchiefs. 

The next article of the man’s ordinary costume is the turban. Thisis a remarkable structure and gives to its wearer much of his uniqueappearance. At present it is made of one or more small shawls. Theseshawls are generally woolen and copied in figure and color from theplaid of some Scotch clan. They are so folded that they are about 3inches wide and as long as the diagonal of the fabric. They are then, one or more of them successively, wrapped tightly around the head, thetop of the head remaining bare; the last end of the last shawl is tuckedskillfully and firmly away, without the use of pins, somewhere in themany folds of the turban. The structure when finished looks like asection of a decorated cylinder crowded down upon the man’s head. Iexamined 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 20inches in diameter, the shell of the cylinder being perhaps 7 inchesthick and 3 in width. This head-dress, at the southern settlements, isregularly worn in the camps and sometimes on the hunt. While hunting, however, it seems to be the general custom, for the warriors to gobareheaded. At the northern camps, a kerchief bound about the headfrequently takes the place of the turban in everyday life, but ondress or festival occasions, at both the northern and the southernsettlements, this curious turban is the customary covering for the headof the Seminole brave. Having no pockets in his dress, he has discoveredthat the folds of his turban may be put to a pocket’s uses. Those whouse tobacco (I say “those” because the tobacco habit is by no meansuniversal among the red men of Florida) frequently carry their pipes andother articles in their turbans. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 62. Key West Billy. ]

When the Seminole warrior makes his rare visits to the white man’ssettlements, he frequently adds to his scanty camp dress leggins andmoccasins. 

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 isobjectionably favorable to the white man and the white man’s ways. Heis called by the white men “Key West Billy, ” having received this namebecause he once made a voyage in a canoe out of the Everglades and alongthe line of keys south of the Florida mainland to Key West, where heremained for some time. The act itself was so extraordinary, and it wasso unusual for a Seminole to enter a white man’s town and remain therefor any length of time, that a commemorative name was bestowed upon him. The materials of which the leggins of the Seminole are usually made isbuckskin. I saw, however, one pair of leggins made of a bright redflannel, and ornamented along the outer seams with a blue and whitecross striped braid. The moccasins, also, are made of buckskin, ofeither a yellow or dark red color. They are made to lace high about thelower part of the leg, the lacing running from below the instep upward. As showing what changes are going on among the Seminole, I may mentionthat a few of them possess shoes, and one is even the owner of a pairof frontier store boots. The blanket is not often worn by the FloridaIndians. Occasionally, in their cool weather, a small shawl, of the kindmade to do service in the turban, is thrown about the shoulders. Oftenera 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. Itconsists, apparently, of but two garments, one of which, for lack of abetter English word, I name a short shirt, the other a long skirt. Theshirt is cut quite low at the neck and is just long enough to cover thebreasts. Its sleeves are buttoned close about the wrists. The garment isotherwise buttonless, being wide enough at the neck for it to be easilyput on or taken off over the head. The conservatism of the SeminoleIndian 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 occurredto them that by making a slight change in their upper garment they mightfree themselves from frequent embarrassment. In going about their workthey were constantly engaged in what our street boys would call “pullingdown their vests. ” This may have been done because a stranger’s eyeswere upon them; but I noticed that in rising or in sitting down, or atwork, it was a perpetually renewed effort on their part to lengthen by apull the scanty covering hanging over their breasts. Gathered about thewaist is the other garment, the skirt, extending to the feet and oftentouching the ground. This is usually made of some dark colored calico orgingham. The cord by which the petticoat is fastened is often drawn sotightly about the waist that it gives to that part of the body a ratheruncomfortable appearance. This is especially noticeable because theshirt is so short that a space of two or more inches on the body is leftuncovered 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 womenhave nothing, unless the cotton cloth, or small shawl, used about theshoulders in cool weather, and which at times is thrown or drawn overthe head, may be called that. (Fig. 63. )

Girls from seven to ten years old are clothed with only a petticoatand boys about the same age wear only a shirt. Younger children are, as a rule, entirely naked. If clothed at anytime, it is only duringexceptionally cool weather or when taken by their parents on a journeyto the homes of the palefaces. 

Personal Adornment. 

The love of personal adornment shows itself among the Seminole as amongother human beings. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 64. Manner of wearing the hair. ]

Hair Dressing. 

The coarse, brilliant, black hair of which they are possessors is takencare 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 scalpfrom temple to temple, and another strip, of about the same width, perpendicular to the former, crossing the crown of the head to the napeof the neck. At each temple a heavy tuft is allowed to hang to thebottom of the lobe of the ear. The long hair of the strip crossing tothe neck is generally gathered and braided into two ornamental queues. I did not learn that these Indians are in the habit of plucking the hairfrom their faces. I noticed, however, that the moustache is commonlyworn among them and that a few of them are endowed with a rather boldlooking combination of moustache and imperial. As an exception to theuniform style of cutting the hair of the men, I recall the comicalappearance of a small negro half breed at the Big Cypress Swamp. Hisbrilliant wool was twisted into many little sharp cones, which stuck outover his head like so many spikes on an ancient battle club. For somereason 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 southerncamps. 

The women dress their hair more simply than the men. From a linecrossing 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 thecivilized woman, the Indian woman’s hair being wrought more into theshape of a cone, sometimes quite elongated and sharp at the apex. Apiece of bright ribbon is commonly used at the end as a finish to thestructure. The front hair hangs down over the forehead and along thecheeks in front of the ears, being what we call “banged. ” The onlyexception to this style of hair dressing I saw was the manner in whichCi-ha-ne, a negress, had disposed of her long crisp tresses. Hers wasa veritable Medusa head. A score or more of dangling, snaky plaits, hanging down over her black face and shoulders gave her a most repulsiveappearance. Among the little Indian girls the hair is simply braidedinto a queue and tied with a ribbon, as we often see the hair upon theheads of our school children. 

Ornamentation Of Clothing. 

The clothing of both men and women is ordinarily more or lessornamented. Braids and strips of cloth of various colors are used andwrought upon the garments into odd and sometimes quite tasteful shapes. The upper parts of the shirts of the women are usually embroidered withyellow, red, and brown braids. Sometimes as many as five of these braidslie side by side, parallel with the upper edge of the garment ordropping into a sharp angle between the shoulders. Occasionally a verynarrow cape, attached, I think, to the shirt, and much ornamented withbraids or stripes, hangs just over the shoulders and back. The samekinds of material used for ornamenting the shirt are also used indecorating the skirt above the lower edge of the petticoat. The womenembroider along this edge, with their braids and the narrow coloredstripes, a border of diamond and square shaped figures, which is oftenan elaborate decoration to the dress. In like manner many of the shirtsof the men are made pleasing to the eye. I saw no ornamentation incurves: it was always in straight lines and angles. 

Use Of Beads. 

My attention was called to the remarkable use of beads among theseIndian women, young and old. It seems to be the ambition of the Seminolesquaws to gather about their necks as many strings of beads as can behung there and as they can carry. They are particular as to the qualityof the beads they wear. They are satisfied with nothing meaner than acut glass bead, about a quarter of an inch or more in length, generallyof 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 inferiorquality worn. 

These beads must be burdensome to their wearers. In the Big CypressSwamp settlement one day, to gratify my curiosity as to how many stringsof beads these women can wear, I tried to count those worn by “YoungTiger Tail’s” wife, number one, Mo-ki, who had come through theEverglades to visit her relatives. She was the proud wearer of certainlynot fewer than two hundred strings of good sized beads. She had sixquarts (probably a peck of the beads) gathered about her neck, hangingdown 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 moveher head. She, however, was only a little, if any, better off in herpossessions than most of the others. Others were about equally burdened. Even girl babies are favored by their proud mammas with a varyingquantity of the coveted neck wear. The cumbersome beads are said to beworn 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 bymen, who may be called “jewelers to the tribe, ” from silver quarters andhalf dollars. The pieces of money are pounded quite thin, made concave, pierced with holes, and ornamented by a groove lying just inside thecircumference. Large disks made from half dollars may be called “breastshields. ” They are suspended, one over each breast. Among the disksother ornaments are often suspended. One young woman I noticedgratifying her vanity with not only eight disks made of silver quarters, but also with three polished copper rifle shells, one bright brassthimble, and a buckle hanging among them. Of course the possession ofthese and like treasures depends upon the ability and desire of one andanother 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 usuallymade of silver and are of home manufacture. The ears of most of theIndians, however, appear to be pierced, and, as a rule, the ears of thewomen are pierced many times; for what purpose I did not discover. Alongand in the upper edges of the ears of the women from one to ten or moresmall holes have been made. In most of these holes I noticed bits ofpalmetto wood, about a fifth of an inch in length and in diameter thesize of a large pin. Seemingly they were not placed there to remain onlywhile the puncture was healing. (Fig. 65. )

Piercing the ears excepted, the Florida Indians do not now mutilatetheir bodies for beauty’s sake. They no longer pierce the lips or thenose; nor do they use paint upon their persons, I am told, except attheir great annual festival, the Green Corn Dance, and upon the faces oftheir dead. 

Finger Rings. 

Nor is the wearing of finger rings more common than that of rings forthe ears. The finger rings I saw were all made of silver and showed goodworkmanship. Most of them were made with large elliptical tablets onthem, 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 beconsidered of much value by the Seminole. He is a monometalist, and hisprecious metal is silver. I was told by a cattle dealer of an Indian whoonce gave him a twenty dollar gold piece for $17 in silver, althoughassured that the gold piece was worth more than the silver, and in myown intercourse with the Seminole I found them to manifest, with fewexceptions, a decided preference for silver. I was told that theSeminole are peculiar in wishing to possess nothing that is not genuineof 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 ofmaterial for wear or ornament. 

Crescents, Wristlets, and Belts. 

The ornaments worn by the men which are most worthy of attention arecrescents, varying in size and value. These are generally about fiveinches long, an inch in width at the widest part, and of the thicknessof ordinary tin. These articles are also made from silver coins and areof home manufacture. They are worn suspended from the neck by cords, in the cusps of the crescents, one below another, at distances apart ofperhaps two and a half inches. Silver wristlets are used by the men fortheir adornment. They are fastened about the wrists by cords or thongspassing through holes in the ends of the metal. Belts, and turbans too, are often ornamented with fanciful devices wrought out of silver. It isnot customary for the Indian men to wear these ornaments in everydaycamp life. They appear with them on a festival occasion or when theyvisit some trading post. 

Me-Le. 

A sketch made by Lieutenant Brown, of Saint Francis Barracks, SaintAugustine, Florida, who accompanied me on my trip to the Cat Fish Lakesettlement, enables me to show, in gala dress, Me-le, a half breedSeminole, the son of an Indian, Ho-laq-to-mik-ko, by a negress adoptedinto 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 justcome seventy miles from his home, at Cat Fish Lake, to see the white manand a white man’s town. He was clothed “in his best, ” and, moreover, hadjust purchased and was wearing a pair of store boots in addition to hishome-made finery. He was the owner of the one pair of red flannelleggins of which I have spoken. These were not long enough to cover thebrown skin of his sturdy thighs. His ornaments were silver crescents, wristlets, a silver studded belt, and a peculiar battlement-like band ofsilver on the edge of his turban. Notice his uncropped head ofluxuriant, curly hair, the only exception I observed to the singular cutof hair peculiar to the Seminole men. Me-le, however, is in many othermore important respects an exceptional character. He is not at all infavor with the Seminole of pure blood. “Me-le ho-lo-wa kis” (Me-le isof no account) was the judgment passed upon him to me by some of theIndians. Why? Because he likes the white man and would live the whiteman’s life if he knew how to break away safely from his tribe. He hasbeen progressive enough to build for himself a frame house, inclosed onall sides and entered by a door. More than that, he is not satisfiedwith the hunting habits and the simple agriculture of his people, norwith 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, bearingfruit. He has bought and uses a sewing machine, and he was intelligentenough, so the report goes, when the machine had been taken to pieces inhis presence, to put it together again without mistake. He once calledoff 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 arestless, inquisitive mind, and deserves the notice and care of thosewho are interested in the progress of this people. Seeking him one dayat Orlando, I found him busily studying the locomotive engine of thelittle road which had been pushed out into that part of the frontierof Florida’s civilized population. Next morning he was at the stationto see the train depart, and told me he would like to go with me toJacksonville. He is the only Florida Seminole, I believe, who had atthat time seen a railway. 

Psychical Characteristics. 

I shall now glance at what may more properly be called the psychicalcharacteristics of the Florida Indians. I have been led to theconclusion that for Indians they have attained a relatively high degreeof psychical development. They are an uncivilized, I hardly like to callthem a savage, people. They are antagonistic to white men, as a race, and to the white man’s culture, but they have characteristics of theirown, many of which are commendable. They are decided in their enmity toany representative of the white man’s government and to everything whichbears upon it the government’s mark. To one, however, who is acquaintedwith recent history this enmity is but natural, and a confessedrepresentative of the government need not be surprised at finding in theSeminole only forbidding and unlovely qualities. But when suspicion isdisarmed, one whom they have welcomed to their confidence will find themevincing characteristics which will excite his admiration and esteem. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the Seminole, not as arepresentative of our National Government, but under conditions whichinduced them to welcome me as a friend. In my intercourse with them, Ifound them to be not only the brave, self reliant, proud people who havefrom time to time withstood our nation’s armies in defense of theirrights, but also a people amiable, affectionate, truthful, andcommunicative. Nor are they devoid of a sense of humor. With only fewexceptions, I found them genial. Indeed, the old chief, Tûs-te-nûg-ge, a man whose warwhoop and deadly hand, during the last half century, haveoften been heard and felt among the Florida swamps and prairies, was theonly 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, withgreat 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 Seminolecommunicative, because most with whom I spoke were eager to talk, and, as far as they could with the imperfect means at their disposal, to giveme the information I sought. “Doctor Na-ki-ta” (Doctor What-is-it) I wasplayfully named at the Cat Fish Lake settlement; yet the people therewere 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 thewhite men I met, and I have reason to believe that the reputation isunder ordinary circumstances well founded. They answered promptly andwithout equivocation “No” or “Yes” or “I don’t know. ” And they areaffectionate to one another, and, so far as I saw, amiable in theirdomestic and social intercourse. Parental affection is characteristic oftheir home life, as several illustrative instances I might mention wouldshow. I will mention one. Täl-la-häs-ke is the father of six finelooking boys, ranging in age from four to eighteen years. Seven monthsbefore I met him his wife died, and when I was at his camp this strongIndian 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 hethrow a tender care about the little one of his household. I have seenthis little fellow clambering, just like many a little paleface, overhis father’s knees and back, persistently demanding attention but inno way disturbing the father’s amiability or serenity, even while thelatter was trying to oblige me by answering puzzling questions uponmatters connected with his tribe. One night, as Lieutenant Brown andI sat by the campfire at Täl-la-häs-ke’s lodge--the larger boys, twoSeminole negresses, three pigs, and several dogs, together withTäl-la-häs-ke, forming a picturesque circle in the ashes around thebright light--I heard muffled moans from the little palmetto shelter onmy right, under which the three smaller boys were bundled up in cottoncloth on deer skins for the night’s sleep. Upon the moans followedimmediately the frightened cry of the baby boy, waking out of bad dreamsand crying for the mother who could not answer; “Its-ki, Its-ki”(mother, mother) begged the little fellow, struggling from under hiscovering. At once the big Indian grasped his child, hugged him to hisbreast, pressed the little head to his cheek, consoling him all thewhile with caressing words, whose meaning I felt, though I could nothave translated them into English, until the boy, wide awake, laughedwith his father and us all and was ready to be again rolled up besidehis sleeping brothers. I have said also that the Seminole are frank. Formal or hypocritical courtesy does not characterize them. One of myparty wished to accompany Ka-tca-la-ni (“Yellow Tiger”) on a hunt. Hewished 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-morrowcame, 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 bothset out. I afterwards learned that Ka-tca-la-ni was all kindness on thetrail to Horse Creek, three miles away, aiding the amateur hunter in hissearch for game and giving him the first shot at what was started. AtHorse Creek, however, Tom stopped, and, turning to his companion, said, “Now you hi-e-pus (go)!” That was frankness indeed, and quiterefreshing to us who had not been honored by it. But equally outspoken, without intending offense, I found them always. You could not mistaketheir 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 sodesirous of identifying himself with the white people that in 1879 hecame to Capt. F. A. Hendry, at Myers, and asked permission to live withhim. 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 hispeople and had cast in his lot with the whites. He had clothed himselfin our dress and taken to the bed and table, instead of the ground andkettle, for sleep and food. “Me all same white man, ” he boastfully toldme one day. But I will not here relate the interesting story of“Billy’s” previous life or of his adventures in reaching his presentproud 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 uponwith 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 Myersand compelled him to return with them for a time to his home at the BigCypress Swamp. But to my illustration of Seminole frankness: In theautumn of 1880, Mat-te-lo, a prominent Seminole, was at Myers andhappened to meet Captain Hendry. While they stood together “Billy”passed. Hardly had the young fellow disappeared when Mat-te-lo said toCaptain Hendry, “Bum-by. Indian kill Billy. ” But an answer came. In thiscase the answer of the white man was equally frank: “Mat-te-lo, whenIndian kill Billy, white man kill Indian, remember. ” And so the talkended, the Seminole looking hard at the captain to try to discoverwhether 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 thecultivated American, are quite limited. But if the Seminole are to bejudged by comparison with other American aborigines, I believe theyeasily enter the first class. They seem to be mentally active. When thefull expression of any of my questions failed, a substantive or two, anadverb, and a little pantomime generally sufficed to convey the meaningto my hearers. In their intercourse with one another, they are, as arule, voluble, vivacious, showing the possession of relatively activebrains and mental fertility. Certainly, most of the Seminole I metcannot justly be called either stupid or intellectually sluggish, and I observed that, when invited to think of matters with which theyare not familiar or which are beyond the verge of the domain whichtheir intellectual faculties have mastered, they nevertheless bravelyendeavored to satisfy me before they were willing to acknowledgethemselves powerless. They would not at once answer a misunderstood orunintelligible question, but would return inquiry upon inquiry, beforethe decided “I don’t know” was uttered. Those with whom I particularlydealt were exceptionally patient under the strains to which I put theirminds. Ko-nip-ha-tco, by no means a brilliant member of his tribe, ismuch to be commended for his patient, persistent, intellectual industry. I kept the young fellow busy for about a fortnight, from half-past eightin the morning until five in the afternoon, with but an hour and ahalf’s intermission at noon. Occupying our time with inquiries not veryinteresting to him, about the language and life of his people, I couldsee how much I wearied him. Often I found by his answers that his brainwas, to a degree, paralyzed by the long continued tension to which itwas subjected. But he held on bravely through the severe heat of anattic room at Myers. Despite the insects, myriads of which took a greatinterest in us and our surroundings, despite the persistent invitationof the near woods to him to leave “Doctor Na-ki-ta” and to tramp off inthem on a deer hunt (for “Billy” is a lover of the woods and a bold andsuccessful hunter), he held on courageously. The only sign of weakeninghe made was on one day, about noon, when, after many, to me, vexatiousfailures to draw from him certain translations into his own language ofphrases containing verbs illustrating variations of mood, time, number, &c. , he said to me: “Doctor, how long you want me to tell you Indianlanguage?” “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, fortime was precious. “Billy, ” I said, “you go now. You hunt to-day. I needyou just three days more and then you can hunt all the time. To-morrowcome, and I will ask you easier questions. ” After only a moment’shesitation, “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 relationswith one another, I shall first treat of that relationship which liesat the foundation of society, marriage or its equivalent, the resultof which is a body of people more or less remotely connected with oneanother and designated by the term “kindred. ” This is shown either inthe narrow limits of what may be named the family or in the largerbounds of what is called the clan or gens. I attempted to get fullinsight into the system of relationships in which Seminole kinship isembodied, and, while my efforts were not followed by an altogethersatisfactory result, I saw enough to enable me to say that the Seminolerelationships are essentially those of what we may call their “mothertribe, ” the Creek. The Florida Seminole are a people containing, to someextent, the posterity of tribes diverse from the Creek in language andin social and political organization; but so strong has the Creekinfluence been in their development that the Creek language, Creekcustoms, and Creek regulations have been the guiding forces in theirhistory, forces by which, in fact, the characteristics of the otherpeoples have yielded, have been practically obliterated. 

I have made a careful comparison of the terms of Seminole relationship Iobtained with those of the Creek Indians, embodied in Dr. L. H. Morgan’sConsanguinity and Affinity of the American Indians, and I find that, asfar as I was able to go, they are the same, allowing for the naturaldifferences of pronunciation of the two peoples. The only seemingdifference of relationships lies in the names applied to some of thelineal descendants, descriptive instead of classificatory names beingused. 

I have said, “as far as I was able to go. ” I found, for example, thatbeyond the second collateral line among consanguineous kindred myinterpreter would answer my question only by some such answer as “Idon’t know” or “No kin, ” and that, beyond the first collateral line ofkindred by marriage, except for a very few relationships, I could obtainno answer. 

The Seminole Family. 

The family consists of the husband, one or more wives, and theirchildren. I do not know what limit tribal law places to the number ofwives 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 ofabout sixteen years, and by a natural impulse desires to make her hiswife. What follows? He calls his immediate relatives to a council andtells them of his wish. If the damsel is not a member of the lover’sown gens and if no other impediment stands in the way of the proposedalliance, they select, from their own number, some who, at anappropriate time, go to the maiden’s kindred and tell them that theydesire the maid to receive their kinsman as her husband. The girl’srelatives then consider the question. If they decide in favor of theunion, they interrogate the prospective bride as to her dispositiontowards the young man. If she also is willing, news of the doubleconsent is conveyed through the relatives, on both sides, to theprospective husband. From that moment there is a gentle excitement inboth households. The female relatives of the young man take to the houseof the betrothed’s mother a blanket or a large piece of cotton cloth anda bed canopy--in other words, the furnishing of a new bed. Thereuponthere is returned thence to the young man a wedding costume, consistingof a newly made shirt. 

Marriage. 

Arrangements for the marriage being thus completed, the marriage takesplace by the very informal ceremony of the going of the bridegroom, atsunset of an appointed day, to the home of his mother-in-law, where heis received by his bride. From that time he is her husband. The nextday, husband and wife appear together in the camp, and are thenceforthrecognized as a wedded pair. After the marriage, through what is theequivalent of the white man’s honeymoon, and often for a much longerperiod, the new couple remain at the home of the mother-in-law. It isthe man and not the woman among these Indians who leaves father andmother and cleaves unto the mate. After a time, especially as the familyincreases, the wedded pair build one or more houses for independenthousekeeping, 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 FloridaSeminole, as elsewhere, end in disappointment and ruin. How divorceis accomplished I could not learn. I pressed the question uponKo-nip-ha-tco, but his answer was, “Me don’t know; Indian no tell memuch. ” All the light I obtained upon the subject comes from Billy’sfirst reply, “He left her. ” In fact, desertion seems to be the onlyceremony accompanying a divorce. The husband, no longer satisfied withhis wife, leaves her; she returns to her family, and the matter isended. There is no embarrassment growing out of problems respecting thewoman’s future support, the division of property, or the adjustment ofclaims for the possession of the children. The independent self-supportof every adult, healthy Indian, female as well as male, and the gentilerelationship, which is more wide reaching and authoritative than thatof marriage, have already disposed of these questions, which are usuallyso perplexing for the white man. So far as personal maintenance isconcerned, a woman is, as a rule, just as well off without a husbandas with one. What is hers, in the shape of property, remains her ownwhether she is married or not. In fact, marriage among these Indiansseems to be but the natural mating of the sexes, to cease at the optionof either of the interested parties. Although I do not know that thewife 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 ofher confinement approaches, selects a place for the birth of her childnot far from the main house of the family, and there, with some friends, builds a small lodge, covering the top and sides of the structuregenerally with the large leaves of the cabbage palmetto. To thissecluded place the woman, with some elderly female relatives, goes atthe time the child is to be born, and there, in a sitting posture, herhands grasping a strong stick driven into the ground before her, sheis delivered of her babe, which is received and cared for by hercompanions. Rarely is the Indian mother’s labor difficult or followed bya prolonged sickness. Usually she returns to her home with her littleone 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 makehis own way through it as best he may. His mother is prompt to nourishhim and solicitous in her care for him if he falls ill, but, as far aspossible, 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 bodyand, within a limited area, of the camp ground. She does not bundle himinto a motionless thing or bind him helplessly on a board; on thecontrary, she does not trouble her child even with clothing. The FloridaIndian baby, when very young, spends his time, naked, in a hammock, oron a deer skin, or on the warm earth. (Fig. 66. )

The Seminole mother, I was informed, is not in the habit of soothingher baby with song. Nevertheless, sometimes one may hear her or an oldgrandam crooning a monotonous refrain as she crouches on the groundbeside 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 inmovement and nasal in quality. The last note was unmusical and utteredquite 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 thehelpless creature and the mother is forced to go to any distance fromher house or lodge, she takes him with her. This she does, usually, bysetting him astride one of her hips and holding him there. If she wishesto have both her arms free, however, she puts the baby into the centerof a piece of cotton cloth, ties opposite corners of the cloth together, and slings her burden over her shoulders and upon her back, where, withhis brown legs astride his mother’s hips, the infant rides, generallywith much satisfaction. I remember seeing, one day, one jolly littlefellow, lolling and rollicking on his mother’s back, kicking her andtugging away at the strings of beads which hung temptingly between hershoulders, while the mother, hand-free, bore on one shoulder a log, which, a moment afterwards, still keeping her baby on her back as shedid so, she chopped into small wood for the camp fire. 

Childhood. 

But just as soon as the Seminole baby has gained sufficient strength totoddle he learns that the more he can do for himself and the more he cancontribute to the general domestic welfare the better he will get alongin life. No small amount of the labor in a Seminole household is done bychildren, even as young as four years of age. They can stir the soupwhile 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 andreplenish the fire; they contribute in this and many other small ways tothe necessary work of the home. I am not to be understood, of course, assaying that the little Seminole’s life is one of severe labor. He hasplenty of time for games and play of all kinds, and of these I shallhereafter speak. Yet, as soon as he is able to play, he finds that withhis 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 itshome. The Florida Indians are not nomads. They have fixed habitations:settlements in well defined districts, permanent camps, houses orwigwams which, remain from year to year the abiding places of theirfamilies, and gardens and fields which for indefinite periods are usedby the same owners. There are times during the year when parties gatherinto temporary camps for a few weeks. Now perhaps they gather upon somerich Koonti ground, that they may dig an extra quantity of this root andmake 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 havea hunt, they camp where a certain kind of game has been discovered inabundance. And they all, as a rule, go to a central point, once a yearand share there their great feast, the Green Corn Dance. Besides, as Iwas told, these Indians are frequent visitors to one another, acting inturn 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 Seminolefamilies are at their homes, occupying houses, surrounded by manycomforts and living a life of routine industry. 

As one Seminole home is, with but few unimportant differences, likenearly all the others, we can get a good idea of what it is bydescribing 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 CypressSwamp. 

When my guide pointed out to me the locality where “Charlie” lives, Icould see nothing but a wide saw-grass marsh surrounding a small island. The island seemed covered with a dense growth of palmetto and othertrees and tangled shrubbery, with a few banana plants rising amongthem. No sign of human habitation was visible. This invisibilityof a Seminole’s house from the vicinity may be taken as a markedcharacteristic of his home. If possible, he hides his house, placingit on an island and in a jungle. As we neared the hammock we found thatapproach to it was difficult. On horseback there was no trouble ingetting through the water and the annoying saw-grass, but I found itdifficult to reach the island with my vehicle, which was loaded with ourprovisions and myself. On the shore of “Charlie’s” island is a piece ofrich land of probably two acres in extent. At length I landed, and soon, to my surprise, entered a small, neat clearing, around which were builtthree houses, excellent of their kind, and one insignificant structure. Beyond these, well fenced with palmetto logs, lay a small garden. No oneof the entire household--father, mother, and child--was at home. Wherethey had gone we did not learn until later. We found them next day at asirup making at “Old Tommy’s” field, six miles away. Having, in theabsence of the owner, a free range of the camp, I busied myself innoting what had been left in it and what were its peculiarities. Amongthe 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 CornDance, ” said “Billy. ” I caught sight of some dressed buckskins lying ona rafter of a house, and an old fashioned rifle, with powder horn andshot flask. I also saw a hoe; a deep iron pot; a mortar, made from alive oak (?) log, probably fifteen inches in diameter and twenty-four inheight, and beside it a pestle, made from mastic wood, perhaps four feetand a half in length. 

A bag of corn hung from a rafter, and near it a sack of clothing, whichI did not examine. A skirt, gayly ornamented, hung there also. Therewere several basketware sieves, evidently home made, and various bottleslying around the place. I did not search among the things laid away onthe rafters under the roof. A sow, with several pigs, lay contentedlyunder 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 bowand stern. 

Dwellings throughout the Seminole district are practically uniform inconstruction. With but slight variations, the accompanying sketch ofI-ful-lo-ha-tco’s main dwelling shows what style of architectureprevails in the Florida Everglades. (Pl. XIX. )

This house is approximately 16 by 9 feet in ground measurement, madealmost altogether, if not wholly, of materials taken from the palmettotree. It is actually but a platform elevated about three feet from theground and covered with a palmetto thatched roof, the roof being notmore 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 ofsplit palmetto logs lying transversely, flat sides up, upon beams whichextend the length of the building and are lashed to the uprights bypalmetto ropes, thongs, or trader’s ropes. This platform is peculiar, in that it fills the interior of the building like a floor and serves tofurnish the family with a dry sitting or lying down place when, as oftenhappens, the whole region is under water. The thatching of the roof isquite a work of art: inside, the regularity and compactness of thelaying of the leaves display much skill and taste on the part of thebuilder; outside--with the outer layers there seems to have been lesscare taken than with those within--the mass of leaves of which the roofis composed is held in place and made firm by heavy logs, which, boundtogether in pairs, are laid upon it astride the ridge. The covering is, I was informed, water tight and durable and will resist even a violentwind. Only hurricanes can tear it off, and these are so infrequent inSouthern 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, infact, only a covered platform. The single equivalent for a room in it isthe space above the joists which are extended across the building at thelower edges of the roof. In this are placed surplus food and generalhousehold effects out of use from time to time. Household utensils areusually suspended from the uprights of the building and from prongedsticks driven into the ground near by at convenient places. 

From this description the Seminole’s house may seem a poor kind ofstructure to use as a dwelling; yet if we take into account the climateof Southern Florida nothing more would seem to be necessary. A shelterfrom the hot sun and the frequent rains and a dry floor above the dampor 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 oblongclearing, which is perhaps 40 by 30 feet. At the fourth corner is theentrance into the garden, which is in shape an ellipse, the longerdiameter being about 25 feet. The three houses are alike, with theexception that in one of them the elevated platform is only half thesize of those of the others. This difference seems to have been made onaccount of the camp fire. The fire usually burns in the space aroundwhich the buildings stand. During the wet season, however, it is movedinto the sheltered floor in the building having the half platform. AtTus-ko-na’s camp, where several families are gathered, I noticed onebuilding without the interior platform. This was probably the wetweather kitchen. 

To all appearance there is no privacy in these open houses. The onlymeans by which it seems to be secured is by suspending, over where onesleeps, a canopy of thin cotton cloth or calico, made square or oblongin 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 ofdwelling in use throughout the tribe, I may not pass unnoticed someinnovations which have lately been made upon the general style. Thereare, I understand, five inclosed houses, which were built and are ownedby Florida Indians. Four of these are covered with split cypress planksor 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 threechildren, a cypress board house, and furnished it with doors andwindows, partitions, floors, and ceiling. In the house are one upper andone 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 thelodge which it occupies when for any cause it temporarily leaves thehouse. The lodges, or the temporary structures which the Seminole makewhen “camping out, ” are, of course, much simpler and less comfortablethan 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, onthe edge of the Big Cypress Swamp; the other of twenty-two persons, at aKoonti ground, on Horse Creek, not far from the site of what was, longago, 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 onwhich the cane field was located. When we arrived at the shore of thesaw-grass marsh no outward sign indicated the presence of fifty Indiansso close at hand; but suddenly three turbaned Seminole emerged from themarsh, as we stood there. Learning from our guide our business, theycordially offered to conduct us through the water and saw-grass to thecamp. The wading was annoying and, to me, difficult; but at length wesecured dry footing in the jungle on the island, and after a tortuousway through the tangled vegetation, which walled in the camp from theprairie, we entered the large clearing and the collection of lodgeswhere the Indians were. These lodges, placed very close together andseemingly without order, were almost all made of white cotton cloths, which were each stretched over ridge poles and tied to four cornerposts. The lodges were in shape like the fly of a wall tent, simply asheet stretched for a cover. 

At a Koonti ground on Horse Creek I met the Cat Fish Lake Indians. Theyhad been forced to leave their homes to secure an extra supply of Koontiflour, because, as I understood the woman who told me, some animals hadeaten all their sweet potatoes. The lodges of this party differed fromthose of the southern Indians in being covered above and around withpalmetto leaves and in being shaped some like wall tents and others likesingle-roofed sheds. The accompanying sketch shows what kind of ashelter Täl-la-häs-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 weremade 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, werestored. 

Home Life. 

Having now seen the formation of the Seminole family and taken a glanceat the dwellings, permanent and temporary, which it occupies, we areprepared to look at its household life. I was surprised by the industryand comparative prosperity and, further, by the cheerfulness and mutualconfidence, intimacy, and affection of these Indians in their familyintercourse. 

The Seminole family is industrious. All its members work who are able todo so, men as well as women. The former are not only hunters, fishermen, and herders, but agriculturists also. The women not only care for theirchildren and look after the preparation of food and the general welfareof the home, but are, besides, laborers in the fields. In the Seminolefamily, both, husband and wife are land proprietors and cultivators. Moreover, as we have seen, all children able to labor contribute theirlittle to the household prosperity. From these various domesticcharacteristics, an industrious family life almost necessarily follows. The disesteem in which Tûs-ko-na, a notorious loafer at the Big CypressSwamp, is held by the other Indians shows that laziness is notcountenanced among the Seminole. 

But let me not be misunderstood here. By a Seminole’s industry I donot mean the persistent and rapid labor of the white man of a northerncommunity. The Indian is not capable of this, nor is he compelled toimitate it. I mean only that, in describing him, it is but just for meto say that he is a worker and not a loafer. 

As a result of the domestic industry it would be expected that we shouldfind comparative prosperity prevailing among all Seminole families; andthis is the fact. Much of the Indian’s labor is wasted through hisignorance of the ways by which it might be economized. He has nolabor saving or labor multiplying machines. There is but littledifferentiation of function in either family or tribe. Each worker doesall 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 cookingpot or toasting stick and women may be seen taking care of cattle andhorses. Men bring home deer and turkeys, &c. ; women spend days infishing. Both men and women are tailors, shoemakers, flour makers, canecrushers and sirup boilers, wood hewers and bearers, and water carriers. There are but few domestic functions which may be said to belongexclusively, on the one hand, to men, or, on the other, to women. 

Out of the diversified domestic industry, as I have said, comescomparative prosperity. The home is all that the Seminole family needsor desires for its comfort. There is enough clothing, or the means toget it, for every one. Ordinarily more than a sufficient quantity ofclothes is possessed by each member of a family. No one lacks money orthe material with which to obtain that which money purchases. Norneed any ever hunger, since the fields and nature offer them food inabundance. The families of the northern camps are not as well providedfor by bountiful nature as those south of the Caloosahatchie River. Yet, though at my visit to the Cat Fish Lake Indians in midwinter the sweetpotatoes were all gone, a good hunting ground and fertile fields ofKoonti were near at hand for Tcup-ko’s people to visit and use to theirprofit. 

Food. 

Read the bill of fare from which the Florida Indians may select, andcompare with that the scanty supplies within reach of the North CarolinaCherokee or the Lake Superior Chippewa. Here is a list of their meats:Of flesh, at any time venison, often opossum, sometimes rabbit andsquirrel, occasionally bear, and a land terrapin, called the “gopher, ”and pork whenever they wish it. Of wild fowl, duck, quail, and turkey inabundance. Of home reared fowl, chickens, more than they are willing touse. Of fish, they can catch myriads of the many kinds which teem in theinland waters of Florida, especially of the large bass, called “trout”by the whites of the State, while on the seashore they can get manyforms of edible marine life, especially turtles and oysters. Equallywell off are these Indians in respect to grains, vegetables, roots, and fruits. They grow maize in considerable quantity, and from it makehominy and flour, and all the rice they need they gather from theswamps. Their vegetables are chiefly sweet potatoes, large and muchpraised melons and pumpkins, and, if I may classify it with vegetables, the tender new growth of the tree called the cabbage palmetto. Amongroots, there is the great dependence of these Indians, the aboundingKoonti; also the wild potato, a small tuber found in black swamp land, and peanuts in great quantities. Of fruits, the Seminole family maysupply itself with bananas, oranges (sour and sweet), limes, lemons, guavas, pineapples, grapes (black and red), cocoa nuts, cocoa plums, seagrapes, and wild plums. And with even this enumeration the bill of fareis not exhausted. The Seminole, living in a perennial summer, is neverat a loss when he seeks something, and something good, to eat. I haveomitted 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 fromthe white man, of salt pork, wheat flour, coffee, and salt, and of thevarious 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 theirlittle herds of horses and cattle and their numbers of chickens andswine. 

Camp Fire. 

Entering the more interior, the intimate home life of the Seminole, oneobserves that the center about which it gathers is the camp fire. Thisis never large except on a cool night, but it is of unceasing interestto 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 socialintercourse of the family, and of the family with their friends, isenjoyed. There the story is told; by its side toilets are made andhousehold duties are performed, not necessarily on account of the warmththe fire gives, for it is often so small that its heat is almostimperceptible, but because of its central position in the householdeconomy. This fire is somewhat singularly constructed; the logs usedfor it are of considerable length, and are laid, with some regularity, around a center, like the radii of a circle. These logs are pusheddirectly inward as the inner ends are consumed. The outer ends of thelogs make excellent seats; sometimes they serve as pillows, especiallyfor old men and women wishing to take afternoon, naps. 

Beds and bedding are of far less account to the Seminole family than thecamp fire. The bed is often only the place where one chooses to lie. Itis generally, however, chosen under the sheltering roof on the elevatedplatform, or, when made in the lodge, on palmetto leaves. It ispillowless, and has covering or not, as the sleeper may wish. If a coveris used, it is, as a rule, only a thin blanket or a sheet of cottoncloth, 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 Seminolehousehold naturally comes the eating of what is prepared there. Thereis nothing very formal in that. The Indians do not set a table or laydishes and arrange chairs. A good sized kettle, containing stewed meatand vegetables, is the center around which, the family gathers for itsmeal. 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 asitting posture. If all that they have to eat at that time is containedin the kettle, each, extracts, with his fingers or his knife, a piece ofmeat or a bone with meat on it, and, holding it in one hand, eats, whilewith the other hand each, in turn, supplies himself, by means of a greatwooden 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 ofvenison roasting before the fire, he will cut from it at any time duringthe day and, with the piece of meat in one hand and a bit of Koonti orof 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 theroasting meat. The kettle and big spoon stand always ready for those whoat any moment may hunger. There is little to be said about eating in aSeminole household, therefore, except that when its members eat togetherthey make a kettle the center of their group and that much of theireating is done without reference to one another. 

Amusements. 

But one sees the family at home, not only working and sleeping andeating, but also engaged in amusing itself. Especially among thechildren, various sports are indulged in. I took some trouble to learnwhat amusements the little Seminole had invented or received. I obtaineda list of them which might as well be that of the white man’s as of theIndian’s child. The Seminole has a doll, i. E. , a bundle of rags, a stickwith a bit of cloth wrapped about it, or something that serves just aswell as this. The children build little houses for their dolls and namethem “camps. ” Boys take their bows and arrows and go into the bushes andkill small birds, and on returning say they have been “turkey-hunting. ”Children sit around a small piece of land and, sticking blades of grassinto the ground, name it a “corn field. ” They have the game of “hide andseek. ” They use the dancing rope, manufacture a “see-saw, ” play “leapfrog, ” and build a “merry-go-round. ” Carrying a small stick, they saythey carry a rifle. I noticed some children at play one day sitting neara dried deer skin, which lay before them stiff and resonant. They hadtaken from the earth small tubers about an inch in diameter found on theroots of a kind of grass and called “deer-food. ” Through them they hadthrust sharp sticks of the thickness of a match and twice as long, making what we would call “teetotums. ” These, by a quick twirl betweenthe palms of the hands, were set to spinning on the deer skin. The fourchildren were keeping a dozen or more of these things going. The sportthey called “a dance. ”

I need only add that the relations among the various members of theIndian family in Florida are, as a rule, so well adjusted and observedthat home life goes on without discord. The father is beyond questionmaster in his home. To the mother belongs a peculiar domestic importancefrom her connection with her gens, but both she and her children seekfirst 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 subjectwithout being a slave; the children have not yet learned self-assertionin opposition to their parents: consequently, there is no constraint infamily intercourse. The Seminole household is cheerful, its members aremutually 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 verydistinct form among the Seminole, I gained but little definiteknowledge. What few facts I secured are here placed on record. 

After I was enabled to make my inquiry understood, I sought to learnfrom my respondent the name of the gens to which each Indian whose nameI had received belonged. As the result, I found that the two hundred andeight Seminole now in Florida are divided into the following gentes andin 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-hûm-ko-sin;” the best translation Ican give of the name is “Those of one camp or house. ”

Examining my table to find whether or not the word as translateddescribes the fact, I notice that, with but one exception, which maynot, after all, prove to be an exception, each of the twenty-two campsinto which the thirty-seven Seminole families are divided is a camp inwhich all the persons but the husbands are members of one gens. Thecamp at Miami is an apparent exception. There Little Tiger, a ratherimportant personage, lives with a number of unmarried relatives. A Wolfhas married one of Little Tiger’s sisters and lives in the camp, asproperly he should. Lately Tiger himself has married an Otter, but, instead of leaving his relatives and going to the camp of his wife’skindred, his wife has taken up her home with his people. 

At the Big Cypress Swamp I tried to discover the comparative rank ordignity of the various clans. In reply, I was told by one of the Windclan that they are graded in the following order. At the northernmostcamp, 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 whocalls himself distinctively a “Tallahassee” Indian. The Buffalo and theHorned Owl clans seem now to be extinct in Florida, and I am notaltogether sure that the Alligator clan also has not disappeared. 

The gens is “a group of relatives tracing a common lineage to someremote ancestor. This lineage is traced by some tribes through themother and by others through the father. ” “The gens is the grand unit ofsocial organization, and for many purposes is the basis of governmentalorganization. ” To the gens belong also certain rights and duties. 

Of the characteristics of the gentes of the Florida Seminole, I knowonly that a man may not marry a woman of his own clan, that the childrenbelong exclusively to the mother, and that by birth they are members ofher 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 selectedfrom gentes as such are the contesting participants. 

Fellowhood. 

In this connection I may say that if I was understood in my inquiriesthe Seminole have also the institution of “Fellowhood” among them. MajorPowell thus describes this institution: “Two young men agree to be lifefriends, ‘more than brothers, ’ confiding without reserve each in theother and protecting each the other from all harm. ”

The Seminole Tribe. 

Tribal Organization. 

The Florida Seminole, considered as a tribe, have a very imperfectorganization. The complete tribal society of the past was much brokenup through wars with the United States. These wars having ended in thetransfer of nearly the whole of the population to the Indian Territory, the few Indians remaining in Florida were consequently left in acomparatively disorganized condition. There is, however, among theseIndians a simple form of government, to which the inhabitants of atleast the three southern settlements submit. The people of Cat Fish Lakeand Cow Creek settlements live in a large measure independent of orwithout civil connection with the others. Tcup-ko calls his people“Tallahassee Indians. ” He says that they are not “the same” as the FishEating Creek, Big Cypress, and Miami people. I learned, moreover, thatthe ceremony of the Green Corn Dance may take place at the three lastnamed settlements and not at those of the north. The “TallahasseeIndians” go to Fish Eating Creek if they desire to take part in thefestival. 

Seat Of Government. 

So far as there is a common seat of government, it is located at FishEating Creek, where reside the head chief and big medicine man of theSeminole, Tûs-ta-nûg-ge, and his brother, Hŏs-pa-ta-ki, also a medicineman. These two are called the Tus-ta-nûg-ul-ki, or “great heroes” of thetribe. At this settlement, annually, a council, composed of minor chiefsfrom the various settlements, meets and passes upon the affairs of thetribe. 

Tribal Officers. 

What the official organization of the tribe is I do not know. Myrespondent could not tell me. I learned, in addition to what I havejust 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 theseIndians now designate themselves. The name Seminole they reject. Intheir own language it means “a wanderer, ” and, when used as a term ofreproach, “a coward. ” Ko-nip-ha-tco said, “Me no Sem-ai-no-le; Seminolecow, Seminole deer, Seminole rabbit; me no Seminole. Indians goneArkansas Seminole. ” He meant that timidity and flight from danger are“Seminole” qualities, and that the Indians who had gone west at thebidding of the Government were the true renegades. This same Indianinformed me that the people south of the Caloosahatchie River, at Miamiand the Big Cypress Swamp call themselves “Kän-yuk-sa Is-ti-tca-ti, ”i. E. , “Kän-yuk-sa red men. ” Kän-yuk-sa is their word for what we know asFlorida. 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 thename appropriate to the people there, they say, is “TallahasseeIndians. ”

CHAPTER III. 

Seminole Tribal Life. 

We may now look at the life of the Seminole in its broader relationsto the tribal organization. Some light has already been thrown on thissubject by the preceding descriptions of the personal characteristicsand social relations of these Indians. But there are other matters to beconsidered, as, for example, industries, arts, religion, and the like. 

Industries. 

Agriculture. 

Prominent among the industries is agriculture. The Florida Indians havebrought one hundred or more acres of excellent land under a rude sort ofcultivation. To each family belong, by right of use and agreement withother Indians, fields of from one to four acres in extent. The onlyagricultural implement they have is the single bladed hoe common on thesouthern plantation. However, nothing more than this is required. 

_Soil. _-- The ground they select is generally in the interiors of therich, hammocks which abound in the swamps and prairies of SouthernFlorida. There, with a soil unsurpassed in fertility and needing only tobe cleared of trees, vines, underbrush, &c. , one has but to plant corn, sweet potatoes, melons, or any thing else suited to the climate, andkeep weeds from the growing vegetation, that he may gather a manifoldreturn. The soil is wholly without gravel, stones, or rocks. It is soft, black, and very fertile. To what extent the Indians carry agricultureI do not know. I am under the impression, however, that they do notattempt to grow enough to provide much against the future. But, as theyhave no season in the year wholly unproductive and for which they mustmake special provision, their improvidence is not followed by seriousconsequences. 

_Corn. _--The chief product of their agriculture is corn. This becomesedible in the months of May and June and at this time it is eaten ingreat quantities. Then it is that the annual festival called the “GreenCorn Dance” is celebrated. When the corn ripens, a quantity of it islaid aside and gradually used in the form of hominy and of what I hearddescribed as an “exceedingly beautiful meal, white as the finest wheatflour. ” This meal is produced by a slow and tedious process. The corn ishulled 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 tothe taste. 

_Sugar cane. _--Another product of their agriculture is the sugar cane. In growing this they are the producers of perhaps the finest sugar canegrown in America; but they are not wise enough to make it a source ofprofit to themselves. It seems to be cultivated more as a passingluxury. It was at “Old Tommy’s” sugar field I met the forty-eight of thepeople of the Big Cypress Swamp settlement already mentioned. They hadleft their homes that they might have a pleasuring for a few weekstogether, “camping out” and making and eating sirup. The cane which hadbeen 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, aswe guessed, seventeen feet or more in length. To obtain the sirup theIndians had constructed two rude mills, the cylinders of which, however, were so loosely adjusted that full half the juice was lost in theprocess of crushing the cane. The juice was caught in various kinds ofiron 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 beenmade. It stood around the boiling place in kettles, large and small, andin cans bearing the labels of well known Boston and New York packers, which had been purchased at Myers. Of special interest to me was aplatform near the boiling place, on which lay several deer skins, thathad been taken as nearly whole as possible from the bodies of theanimals, and utilized as holders of the sirup. They were filled with thesweet stuff, and the ground beneath was well covered by a slow leakagefrom 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 spotlessbrilliancy. It made a welcome and delicious drink. I tasted some of thesirup also, eating it Indian fashion, i. E. , I pared some of their smallboiled 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 hadseen among the whites. Its cylinders were made of live oak; the drivingcogs were cut from a much harder wood, the mastic, I was told; and thesewere so loosely set into the cylinders that I could take them out withthumb and forefinger. (Fig. 68. )

It is not necessary to speak in particular of the culture of sweetpotatoes, beans, melons, &c. At best it is very primitive. It is, however, deserving of mention that the Seminole have around their housesat least a thousand banana plants. When it is remembered that a hundredbananas are not an overlarge yield for one plant, it is seen how welloff, 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 onlyto seek in order to find it. For this purpose they use the rifle. Thebow and arrow are no longer used for hunting purposes except by thesmaller children. The rifles are almost all the long, heavy, small bore“Kentucky” rifle. This is economical of powder and lead, and for thisreason is preferred by many to even the modern improved weapons whichcarry fixed ammunition. The Seminole sees the white man so seldom andlives so far from trading posts that he is not willing to be confined tothe use of the prepared cartridge. 

A few breech loading rifles are owned in the tribe. The shot gun is muchdisliked by the Seminole. There is only one among them, and that is acombination of shot gun with rifle. I made a careful count of their firearms, and found that they own, of “Kentucky” rifles, 63; breech loadingrifles, 8; shot gun and rifle, 1; revolvers, 2--total, 74. 

_Methods of hunting. _--The Seminole always hunt their game on foot. Theycan approach a deer to within sixty yards by their method of rapidlynearing him while he is feeding, and standing perfectly still when heraises his head. They say that they are able to discover by certainmovements 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 deceivethe deer, appearing to them as stumps or trees. They lure turkeys withinshooting distance by an imitation of the calls of the bird. They leavesmall game, such as birds, to the children. One day, while some of ourparty were walking near Horse Creek with Ka-tca-la-ni, a covey of quailwhirred out of the grass. By a quick jerk the Indian threw his ramrodamong the birds and billed one. He appeared to regard this feat asneither accidental nor remarkable. 

I sought to discover how many deer the Seminole annually kill, butcould get no number which I can call trustworthy. I venture twenty-fivehundred as somewhere near a correct estimate. 

Otter hunting is another of the Seminole industries. This animal hasbeen pursued with the rifle and with the bow and arrow. Lately theIndians have heard of the trap. When we left Horse Creek, a request wasmade by one of them to our guide to purchase for him six otter traps foruse in the Cat Fish Lake camp. 

Fishing. 

Fishing is also a profitable industry. For this the hook and line areoften used; some also use the spoon hook. But it is a common practiceamong them to kill the fish with bow and arrow, and in this they arequite skillful. One morning some boys brought me a bass, weighingperhaps 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 bymembers of the tribe and that the Seminole probably possess a thousandswine and five hundred chickens. The latter are of an excellent breed. At Cat Fish Lake an unusual interest in horses seems now to bedeveloping. I found there twenty horses. I was told that there aretwelve horses at Fish Eating Creek, and I judge that between thirty-fiveand forty of these animals are now in possession of the tribe. 

Koonti. 

The unique industry, in the more limited sense of the word, of theSeminole is the making of the Koonti flour. Koonti is a root containinga large percentage of starch. It is said to yield a starch equal tothat of the best Bermuda arrowroot. White men call it the “Indianbread root, ” and lately its worth as an article of commerce has beenrecognized by the whites. There are now at least two factories inoperation in Southern Florida in which the Koonti is made into a flourfor the white man’s market. I was at one such factory at Miami and sawanother near Orlando. I ate of a Koonti pudding at Miami, and can saythat, as it was there prepared and served with milk and guava jelly, itwas delicious. As might be supposed, the Koonti industry, as carried onby the whites, produces a far finer flour than that which the Indiansmanufacture. The Indian process, as I watched it at Horse Creek, wasthis: The roots were gathered, the earth was washed from them, and theywere 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 whicha number of holes, about nine inches square at the top, their sidessloping downward to a point, had been cut side by side. Each of theseholes was the property of some one of the squaws or of the children ofthe camp. For each of the holes, which were to serve as mortars, apestle 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 kindof pulp. This was done by chopping it into small pieces and filling withit one of the mortars and pounding it with a pestle. The contents of themortar were then laid upon a small platform. Each worker had a platform. When a sufficient quantity of the root had been pounded the whole masswas taken to the creek near by and thoroughly saturated with water in avessel made of bark. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 71. Koonti mash vessel. ]

The pulp was then washed in a straining cloth, the starch of the Koontidraining into a deer hide suspended below. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 72. Koonti strainer. ]

When the starch had been thoroughly washed from the mass the latter wasthrown away, and the starchy sediment in the water in the deerskin leftto ferment. After some days the sediment was taken from the water andspread upon palmetto leaves to dry. When dried, it was a yellowish whiteflour, ready for use. In the factory at Miami substantially this processis followed, the chief variation from it being that the Koonti is passedthrough several successive fermentations, thereby making it purer andwhiter than the Indian product. Improved appliances for the manufactureare used by the white man. 

The Koonti bread, as I saw it among the Indians, was of a bright orangecolor, and rather insipid, though not unpleasant to the taste. It wassaltless. Its yellow color was owing to the fact that the flour had hadbut one fermentation. 

Industrial Statistics. 

The following is a summary of the results of the industries now engagedin by the Florida Indians. It shows what is approximately true of theseat 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 metnecessities 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 theEuropeans for the last three centuries, while it has not led them toadopt the white man’s civilization in matters of government, religion, language, manners, and customs, has, nevertheless, induced them toappropriate for their own use some of the utensils, implements, weapons, &c. , of the strangers. For example, it was easy for the ancestors ofthese Indians to see that the iron kettle of the white man was better inevery way than their own earthenware pots. Gradually, therefore, the artof making pottery died out among them, and now, as I believe, there isno pottery whatever in use among the Florida Indians. They neither makenor purchase it. They no longer buy even small articles of earthenware, preferring tin instead, Iron implements likewise have supplanted thosemade of stone. Even their word for stone, “Tcat-to, ” has been appliedto iron. They purchase hoes, hunting knives, hatchets, axes, and, forspecial use in their homes, knives nearly two feet in length. With theselong knives they dress timber, chop meat, etc. 

_Weapons. _--They continue the use of the bow and arrow, but no longerfor 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 everymale in the tribe over twelve years of age to provide himself with arifle. The bow, as now made, is a single piece of mulberry or otherelastic wood and is from four to six feet in length; the bowstring ismade of twisted deer rawhide; the arrows are of cane and of hard woodand vary in length from two to four feet; they are, as a rule, tippedwith a sharp conical roll of sheet iron. The skill of the young men inthe use of the bow and arrow is remarkable. 

_Weaving and basket making. _--The Seminole are not now weavers. Theirfew wants for clothing and bedding are supplied by fabrics manufacturedby white men. They are in a small way, however, basket makers. From theswamp cane, and sometimes from the covering of the stalk of the fanpalmetto, they manufacture flat baskets and sieves for domestic service. 

_Uses of the palmetto. _--In this connection I call attention to theinestimable value of the palmetto tree to the Florida Indians. From thetrunk of the tree the frames and platforms of their houses are made; ofits leaves durable water tight roofs are made for the houses; with theleaves their lodges are covered and beds protecting the body from thedampness of the ground are made; the tough fiber which lies between thestems of the leaves and the bark furnishes them with material from whichthey make twine and rope of great strength and from which they could, were it necessary, weave cloth for clothing; the tender new growth atthe 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 thechestnut; 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 beensupplanted by any utensil furnished by the trader. This is still thebest mill they have in which to grind their corn. The mortar is madefrom a log of live oak (?) wood, ordinarily about two feet in lengthand from fifteen to twenty inches in diameter. One end of the log ishollowed out to quite a depth, and in this, by the hammering of a pestlemade of mastic wood, the corn is reduced to hominy or to the impalpableflour of which I have spoken. (Fig. 73. )

_Canoe making. _--Canoe making is still one of their industrial arts, thecanoe being their chief means of transportation. The Indian settlementsare all so situated that the inhabitants of one can reach those of theothers by water. The canoe is what is known as a “dugout, ” made from thecypress log. 

_Fire making. _--The art of fire making by simple friction is now, Ibelieve, neglected among the Seminole, unless at the starting of thesacred fire for the Green Corn Dance. A fire is now kindled either bythe 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 awayfrom home. He held, crumpled between the thumb and forefinger of theleft hand, a bit of paper. In the folds of the paper he poured from hispowder horn a small quantity of gunpowder. Close beside the paper heheld also a piece of flint. Striking this flint with a bit of steel andat the same time giving to the left hand a quick upward movement, heignited the powder and paper. From this he soon made a fire among thepitch pine chippings he had previously prepared. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 74. Hide stretcher. ]

_Preparation of skins. _--I did not learn just how the Indians dress deerskins, 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, verysoft and strong; and also the dark red buckskin, which evidently hadpassed, in part of its preparation, through smoke. I was told that thebrains of the animal serve an important use in the skin dressingprocess. The accompanying sketch shows a simple frame in use forstretching 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 whathas been already said. I saw but few attempts at ornamentation beyondthose made on the person and on clothing. Houses, canoes, utensils, implements, weapons, were almost all without carving or painting. Infact, the only carving I noticed in the Indian country was on a pinetree near Myers. It was a rude outline of the head of a bull. The localreport is that when the white men began to send their cattle south ofthe Caloosahatchie River the Indians marked this tree with this sign. The only painting I saw was the rude representation of a man, upon theshaft of one of the pestles used at the Koonti log at Horse Creek. Itwas 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 amongthe Seminole. Their festivals are few; so few that the songs of thefathers have mostly been forgotten. They have songs for the Green CornDance; they have lullabys; and there is a doleful song they sing inpraise of drink, which is occasionally heard when the white man has soldIndians whisky on coming to town. Knowing the motive of the song, Ithought the tune stupid and maudlin. Without pretending to reproduce itexactly, 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 tothe tune. The last note in this, as in the lullaby I noted above, isunmusical and staccato. 

Religion. 

I could learn but little of the religious faiths and practices existingamong the Florida Indians. I was struck, however, in making myinvestigations, by the evident influence Christian teaching has had uponthe native faith. How far it has penetrated the inherited thought of theIndian I do not know. But, in talking with Ko-nip-ha-tco, he told methat his people believe that the Koonti root was a gift from God; thatlong ago the “Great Spirit” sent Jesus Christ to the earth with theprecious plant, and that Jesus had descended upon the world at CapeFlorida and there given the Koonti to “the red men. ” In reference tothis tradition, it is to be remembered that during the seventeenthcentury the Spaniards had vigorous missions among the Florida Indians. Doubtless it was from these that certain Christian names and beliefs nowtraceable among the Seminole found way into the savage creed and ritual. 

I attempted several times to obtain from my interpreter a statement ofthe religious beliefs he had received from his people. I cannot affirmwith confidence that success followed my efforts. 

He told me that his people believe in a “Great Spirit, ” whose name isHis-a-kit-a-mis-i. This word, I have good reason to believe, means “themaster 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 bythe word “spirit. ” I tried to convey my meaning to him, but I think Ifailed. He told me that the place to which Indians go after death iscalled “Po-ya-fi-tsa” and that the Indians who have died are thePi-ya-fits-ul-ki, or “the people of Po-ya-fi-tsa. ” That was our nearestunderstanding of the word “spirit” or “soul. ”

Mortuary Customs. 

As the Seminole mortuary customs are closely connected with theirreligious beliefs, it will be in place to record here what I learned ofthem. The description refers particularly to the death and burial of achild. 

 [Illustration: Fig. 75. Seminole bier. ]

The preparation for burial began as soon as death had taken place. Thebody was clad in a new shirt, a new handkerchief being tied about theneck and another around the head. A spot of red paint was placed on theright cheek and one of black upon the left. The body was laid faceupwards. In the left hand, together with a bit of burnt wood, a smallbow about twelve inches in length was placed, the hand lying naturallyover the middle of the body. Across the bow, held by the right hand, was laid an arrow, slightly drawn. During these preparations, the womenloudly lamented, with hair disheveled. At the same time some men hadselected a place for the burial and made the grave in this manner:Two palmetto logs of proper size were split. The four pieces were thenfirmly placed on edge, in the shape of an oblong box, lengthwise eastand west. In this box a floor was laid, and over this a blanket wasspread. Two men, at next sunrise, carried the body from the camp to theplace of burial, the body being suspended at feet thighs, back, and neckfrom a long pole (Fig. 75). The relatives followed. In the grave, whichis called “To-hŏp-ki”--a word used by the Seminole for “stockade, ” or“fort, ” also, the body was then laid the feet to the east. A blanket wasthen carefully wrapped around the body. Over this palmetto leaves wereplaced and the grave was tightly closed by a covering of logs. Above thebox a roof was then built. Sticks, in the form of an _X_, were driveninto the earth across the overlying logs; these were connected by apole, 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-hŏp-ki. ” With this the ceremony at the grave ended and all returnedto the camp. During that day and for three days thereafter the relativesremained at home and refrained from work. The fires at the grave wererenewed at sunset by those who had made them, and after nightfalltorches 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 firesand waving of the torches were repeated three days. The fourth day thefires were allowed to die out. Throughout the camp “medicine” had beensprinkled at sunset for three days. On the fourth day it was said thatthe Indian “had gone. ” From that time the mourning ceased and themembers of the family returned to their usual occupations. 

The interpretation of the ceremonies just mentioned, as given me, isthis: 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 thewaving of the torches, were to guard him from the approach of “evilbirds” who would harm him. His feet were placed toward the east, thatwhen 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 withthe feet in any other direction he would not know when he rose what pathto take and he would be lost in the darkness. He had with him his bowand arrow, that he might procure food on his way. The piece of burntwood in his hand was to protect him from the “bad birds” while he was onhis skyward journey. These “evil birds” are called Ta-lak-i-çlak-o. Thelast rite paid to the Seminole dead is at the end of four moons. At thattime the relatives go to the To-hŏp-ki and cut from around it theovergrowing grass. A widow lives with disheveled hair for the firsttwelve moons of her widowhood. 

Green Corn Dance. 

The one institution at present in which the religious beliefs of theSeminole find special expression is what is called the “Green CornDance. ” 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 anymanner speak English, made but an imperfect attempt to describe it. Infact, he seemed unwilling to talk about it. He told me, however, that asthe season for holding the festival approaches the medicine men assembleand, through their ceremonies, decide when it shall take place, and, ifI caught his meaning, determine also how long the dance shall continue. Others, on the contrary, told me that the dance is always continued forfour days. 

Fifteen days previous to the festival heralds are sent from the lodgeof the medicine men to give notice to all the camps of the day when thedance will commence. Small sticks are thereupon hung up in each camp, representing the number of days between that date and the day of thebeginning of the dance. With the passing of each day one of these sticksis thrown away. The day the last one is cast aside the families go tothe appointed place. At the dancing ground they find the selected spacearranged 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 havingboth a nauseating smell and taste. It is probably a mixture similar tothat used by the Creek in the last century at a like ceremony. It actsas both an emetic and a cathartic, and it is believed among the Indiansthat 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 medicinemen join. 

At that time the Medicine Song is sung. My Indian would not repeatthis 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 meetwith 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 dayfollowing is one of fasting, but the next day is one of great feasting, “Hom-pi-ta-çlak-o, ” in which “Indian eat all time, ” “Hom-pis-yak-i-ta. ”

 [Illustration: Fig. 77. Green Corn Dance. ]

 ---------------------------------------------------------------- ++++++ N. Squaws | -+-E “O-PÛN-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-PÛN-KA-TOT-KIT-A” House where the warriors sit. Squaws ++++++ ----------------------------------------------------------------

Use Of Medicines. 

Concerning the use by the Indians of medicine against sickness, Ilearned only that they are in the habit of taking various herbs fortheir ailments. What part incantation or sorcery plays in the healingof disease I do not know. Nor did I learn what the Indians think of theorigin and effects of dreams. Me-le told me that he knows of a plant theleaves of which, eaten, will cure the bite of a rattlesnake, and that heknows also of a plant which is an antidote to the noxious effects of thepoison 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 thecurrency of the United States. The unit they seem to have adopted, atleast at the Big Cypress Swamp settlement, is twenty-five cents, whichthey call “Kan-cat-ka-hum-kin” (literally, “one mark on the ground”). AtMiami a trader keeps his accounts with the Indians in single marks orpencil strokes. For example, an Indian brings to him buck skins, forwhich the trader allows twelve “chalks. ” The Indian, not wishing then topurchase 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. Thetrader then takes the paper and returns it to Little Tiger changed asfollows:

 “IIII--III. J. W. E. Owes Little Tiger $1. 75. ”

Thus the account is kept until all the “marks” are crossed off, whenthe trader takes the paper into his own possession. The value of thepurchases made at Miami by the Indians, I was informed, is annuallyabout $2, 000. This is, however, an amount larger than would be theaverage for the rest of the tribe, for the Miami Indians do aconsiderable business in the barter and sale of ornamental plumage. 

What the primitive standard of value among the Seminole was is suggestedto me by their word for money, “Tcat-to Ko-na-wa. ” “Ko-na-wa” meansbeads, and “Tcat-to, ” while it is the name for iron and metal, is alsothe name for stone. “Tcat-to” probably originally meant stone. Tcat-toKo-na-wa (i. E. , stone beads) was, then, the primitive money. With“Hat-ki, ” or white, added, the word means silver; with “La-ni, ” oryellow, 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. Iquestioned my respondent closely, but could gain no light upon the termshe used as equivalents for our measurements. 

Divisions Of Time. 

I also gained but little knowledge of their divisions of time. They havethe year, the name for which is the same as that used for summer, and intheir year are twelve months, designated, respectively:

 1. Çla-fŭts-u-tsi, Little Winter. 2. Ho-ta-li-ha-si, Wind Moon. 3. Ho-ta-li-ha-si-çlak-o, Big Wind Moon. 4. Ki-ha-su-tsi, Little Mulberry Moon. 5. Ki-ha-si-çlat-o, Big Mulberry Moon. 6. Ka-too-ha-si. 7. Hai-yu-tsi. 8. Hai-yu-tsi-çlak-o. 9. O-ta-wŭs-ku-tsi. 10. O-ta-wŭs-ka-çlak-o. 11. I-ho-li. 12. Çla-fo-çlak-o, Big Winter. 

I suppose that the spelling of these words could be improved, but Ireproduce them phonetically as nearly as I can, not making what to mewould be desirable corrections. The months appear to be divided simplyinto days, and these are, in part at least, numbered by reference tosuccessive positions of the moon at sunset. When I asked Täl-la-häs-kehow 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 towhere 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 thepositions of the sun in the sky from dawn to sunset. 

Numeration. 

The Florida Indians can count, by their system, indefinitely. Theirsystem of numeration is quinary, as will appear from the following list:

 1. Hûm-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-hûm-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 themethod used by an old man in his intercourse with me will serve. Hewished to count eight. He first placed the thumb of the right hand uponthe little finger of the left, then the right forefinger upon the nextleft hand finger, then the thumb on the next finger, and the forefingeron the next, and then the thumb upon the thumb; leaving now the thumbof the right hand resting upon the thumb of the left, he counted theremaining numbers on the right hand, using for this purpose the foreand middle fingers of the left; finally he shut the fourth and littlefingers of the right hand down upon its palm, and raising his hands, thumbs touching, the counted fingers outspread, he showed me eight asthe number of horses of which I had made inquiry. 

Sense Of Color. 

Concerning the sense of color among these Indians, I found that myinformant at least possessed it to only a very limited degree. Black andwhite were clear to his sight, and for these he had appropriate namesAlso for brown, which was to him a “yellow black, ” and for gray, whichwas a “white black. ” For some other colors his perception was distinctand the names he used proper. But a name for blue he applied to manyother colors, shading from violet to green. A name for red followed asuccession of colors all the way from scarlet to pink. A name for yellowhe applied to dark orange and thence to a list of colors through toyellow’s lightest and most delicate tint. I thought that at one time Ihad found him making a clear distinction between green and blue, but asI examined further I was never certain that he would not exchange thenames when asked about one or the other color. 

Education. 

The feeling of the tribe is antagonistic to even such primary educationas reading, writing, and calculation. About ten years ago an attempt, the only attempt in modern times, to establish schools among them wasmade 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 arethree negroes and seven persons of mixed breed among the Seminole. Ithas been said that these negroes were slaves and are still held asslaves by the Indians. I saw nothing and could not hear of anythingto justify this statement. One Indian is, I know, married to a negress, and the two negresses in the tribe live apparently on terms of perfectequality 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 theFlorida Indians held negroes as slaves, but my impression is to thecontrary. The Florida Indians, I think, rather offered a place of refugefor fugitive bondmen and gradually made them members of their tribe. 

Health. 

In the introduction to this report I said that the health of theSeminole is good. As confirming this statement, I found that the deathsduring the past year had been very few. I had trustworthy informationconcerning the deaths of only four persons. One of these deaths was ofan old woman, O-pa-ka, at the Fish Eating Creek settlement; another wasof Täl-la-häs-ke’s wife, at Cat Fish Lake settlement; another was of asister of Täl-la-häs-ke; and the last was of a child, at Cow Creeksettlement. At the Big Cypress Swamp settlement I was assured that nodeaths had occurred either there or at Miami during the year. On thecontrary, however, I was told by some white people at Miami that severalchildren had died at the Indian camp near there in the year past. Täl-la-häs-ke said to me, “Twenty moons ago, heap pickaninnies die!” AndI was informed by others that about two years before there had beenconsiderable fatality among children, as the consequence of a sort ofepidemic at one of the northern camps. Admitting the correctness ofthese reports, I have no reason to modify my general statement that thehealth of the Seminole is good and that they are certainly increasingtheir number. Their appearance indicates excellent health and theirenvironment is in their favor. 

CHAPTER IV. 

Environment Of The Seminole. 

Nature. 

Southern Florida, the region to which most of the Seminole have beendriven by the advances of civilization, is, taken all in all, unlike anyother part of our country. In climate it is subtropical; in characterof soil it shows a contrast of comparative barrenness and aboundingfertility; and in topography it is a plain, with hardly any perceptiblenatural elevations or depressions. The following description, based uponthe notes of my journey to the Big Cypress Swamp, indicates thecharacter of the country generally. I left Myers, on the CaloosahatchieRiver, a small settlement composed principally of cattlemen, one morningin the month of February. Even in February the sun was so hot thatclothing was a burden. As we started upon our journey, which was to befor a distance of sixty miles or more, my attention was called to thefact that the harness of the horse attached to my buggy was without thebreeching. 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 themain street of Myers, entered pine woods. The soil across which wetraveled at first was a dry, dazzling white sand, over which, wasscattered a growth of dwarf palmetto. The pine trees were not nearenough together to shade us from the fierce, sun. This sparseness ofgrowth, and comparative absence of shade, is one marked characteristicof Florida’s pine woods. Through this thin forest we drove all the day. The monotonous scenery was unchanged except that at a short distancefrom Myers it was broken by swamps and ponds. So far as the appearanceof the country around as indicated, we could not tell whether we weretwo miles or twenty from our starting point. Nearly half our way duringthe first day lay through water, and yet we were in the midst of what iscalled the winter “dry season. ” The water took the shape here of a swampand there of a pond, but where the swamp or the pond began or ended itwas scarcely possible to tell, one passed by almost imperceptibledegrees from dry land to moist and from moist land into pool or marsh. Generally, however, the swamps were filled with a growth of cypresstrees. These cypress groups were well defined in the pine woods by thecloseness of their growth and the sharpness of the boundary of theclusters. Usually, too, the cypress swamps were surrounded by rims ofwater grasses. Six miles from Myers we crossed a cypress swamp, in whichthe 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 thetrees were covered with hanging mosses and air plants. 

The ponds differed from the swamps only in being treeless. They are opensheets of water surrounded by bands of greater or less width of tallgrasses. The third day, between 30 and 40 miles from Myers, we left thepine tree lands and started across what are called in Southern Floridathe “prairies. ” These are wide stretches covered with grass and withscrub palmetto and dotted at near intervals with what are called pine“islands” or “hammocks” and cypress swamps. The pine island or hammockis a slight elevation of the soil, rising a few inches above the deadlevel. The cypress swamp, on the contrary, seems to have its origin onlyin a slight depression in the plain. Where there is a ring of slightdepression, inclosing a slight elevation, there is generally acombination of cypress and pine and oak growth. For perhaps 15 miles wetraveled that third day over this expanse of grass; most of the way wewere in water, among pine islands, skirting cypress swamps and saw-grassmarshes, and being jolted through thick clumps of scrub palmetto. Beforenightfall we reached the district occupied by the Indians, passing thereinto what is called the “Bad Country, ” an immense expanse of submergedland, with here and there islands rising from it, as from the drierprairies. We had a weird ride that afternoon and night: Now we passedthrough saw-grass 5 or 6 feet high and were in water 6 to 20 inches indepth; 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. Atbut one place in a distance of several miles was it dry enough for oneto step upon the ground without wetting the feet. We reached that placeat nightfall, but found no wood there for making a fire. We were 4 milesthen from any good camping ground. Captain Hendry asked our Indiancompanion whether he could take us through the darkness to a placecalled the “Buck Pens. ” Ko-nip-ha-tco said he could. Under his guidancewe started in the twilight, the sky covered with clouds. The night whichfollowed was starless, and soon we were splashing through a countrywhich, to my eyes, was trackless. There were visible to me no landmarks. But our Indian, following a trail made by his own people, about nineo’clock brought us to the object of our search. A black mass suddenlyappeared 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, theAk-ho-lo-wa-koo-tci. So level is the country, however, and so sluggishthe flow of water there that this river, where we crossed it, was morelike a swamp than a stream. Indeed, in Southern Florida the streams, for a long distance from what would be called their sources, are more asuccession of swamps than well defined currents confined to channels bybanks. They have no real shores until they are well on their way towardsthe ocean. 

Beyond the point I reached, on the edge of the Big Cypress Swamp, liethe Everglades proper, a wide district with, only deeper water andbetter 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 Floridalying south of the Caloosahatchee River. It is in this watery prairieand Everglade region that we find the immediate environment of most ofthe Seminole Indians. Of the surroundings of the Seminole north of theCaloosahatchee there is but little to say in modification of what hasalready been said. Near the Fish Eating Creek settlement there is asomewhat drier prairie land than that which I have just described. Therange of barren sand hills which extends from the north along the middleof Florida to the headwaters of the Kissimmee River ends at Cat FishLake. Excepting these modifications, the topography of the whole Indiancountry of Florida is substantially the same as that which we traversedon 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 themidst of summer. The few deciduous trees there were having a midyearpause, but trees with dense foliage, flowers, fruit, and growing grasswere 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 certainlynothing in the climate to make one feel the need of more clothing orshelter than would protect from excessive heat or rain. 

Then the abundance of food, both animal and vegetable, obtainable inthat region seemed to me to do away with the necessity, on the part ofthe people living there, for a struggle for existence. As I have alreadystated, 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 thatcannot be surpassed. Plantings are followed by superabundant harvests, and the hunter is richly rewarded. But I need not repeat what hasalready been said; it suffices to note that the natural environmentof 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 alsobefore said, that these Indians are in no exceptional danger from wildanimals or poisonous reptiles, that they need not specially guardagainst epidemic disease, and when we remember that they are native towhatever influences might affect injuriously persons from other parts ofthe country, we can easily see how much more favorably situated forphysical prosperity they are than others of their kind. In fact, naturehas made physical life so easy to them that their great danger lies inthe possible want or decadence of the moral, strength needed to maintainthem in a vigorous use of their powers. This moral strength to somedegree they have, but in large measure it had its origin in and has beenpreserved by their struggles with man rather than with nature. The warsof their ancestors, extending over nearly two centuries, did the most tomake them the brave and proud people they are. It is through the effectsof these chiefly that they have been kept from becoming indolent andeffeminate. They are now strong, fearless, haughty, and independent. But the near future is to initiate a new epoch in their history, an erain which their career may be the reverse of what it has been. Man isbecoming a factor of new importance in their environment. The movinglines of the white population are closing in upon the land of theSeminole. There is no farther retreat to which they can go. It is theirimpulse to resist the intruders, but some of them are at last becomingwise enough to know that they cannot contend successfully with the whiteman. It is possible that even their few warriors may make an effort tostay the oncoming hosts, but ultimately they will either perish in thefutile attempt or they will have to submit to a civilization which, until now, they have been able to repel and whose injuriousaccompaniments may degrade and destroy them. Hitherto the white man’sinfluence has been comparatively of no effect except in arousing in theIndian his more violent passions, and in exciting him to open hostility. For more than three centuries the European has been face to face withthe Florida Indian and the two have never really been friends. Throughthe seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the peninsula was the scene offrequently renewed warfare. Spaniard, Frenchman, Englishman, andSpaniard, in turn, kept the country in an unsettled state, and when theAmerican Union received the province from Spain, sixty years ago, itreceived with it, in the tribe of the Seminole, an embittered anddetermined race of hostile subjects. This people our Government hasnever been able to conciliate or to conquer. A different Indian policy, or a different administration of it, might have prevented the disastrouswars of the last half century; but, as all know, the Seminole havealways lived within our borders as aliens. It is only of late years, andthrough natural necessities, that any friendly intercourse of white manand Indian has been secured. The Indian has become too weak to contendsuccessfully against his neighbor and the white man has learned enoughto refrain from arousing the vindictiveness of the savage. The few whitemen now on the border line in Florida are, with only some exceptions, cattle dealers or traders seeking barter with the red men. The cattlemensometimes meet the Indians on the prairies and are friendly with themfor the sake of their stock, which often strays into the Seminolecountry. The other places of contact of the whites and Seminole arethe 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 ofEuropean civilization, such as weapons, implements, domestic utensils, fabrics for clothing, &c. Mentally, excepting a few religious ideaswhich they received long ago from the teaching of Spanish missionariesand, in the southern settlements, excepting some few Spanish words, theSeminole have accepted and appropriated practically nothing from, thewhite man. The two peoples remain, as they always have been, separateand independent. Up to the present, therefore, the human environmenthas had no effect upon the Indians aside from that which has just beennoticed, except to arouse them to war and to produce among them war’sconsequences. 

But soon a great and rapid change must take place. The large immigrationof a white population into Florida, and especially the attempts atpresent being made to drain Lake Okeechobee and the Everglades, make itcertain, as I have said, that the Seminole is about to enter a futureunlike any past he has known. But now that new factors are beginning todirect his career, now that he can no longer retreat, now that he canno longer successfully contend, now that he is to be forced into close, unavoidable contact with men he has known only as enemies, what will hebecome? If we anger him, he still can do much harm before we can conquerhim; but if we seek, by a proper policy, to do him justice, he yet maybe made our friend and ally. Already, to the dislike of the old men ofthe tribe, some young braves show a willingness to break down theancient barriers between them and our people, and I believe it possiblethat with encouragement, at a time not far distant, all these Indiansmay become our friends, forgetting their tragic past in a peaceful andprosperous future. 

INDEX

Big Cypress Swamp Seminole settlement 477, 478, 499, 507, 529Billy, brother of Key West Billy 492-494, 499, 528Brown, Lieutenant, aid of, among Seminole 489Catfish Lake Seminole settlement 477, 478, 509Cow Creek Seminole settlement 477, 478Cypress swamps, Florida 527-529Devil’s Garden, Florida 478Hendry, F. A. , aid in Florida 492, 511, 528Key West Billy 484, 485Koonti, preparation of 513-516 Seminole tradition of origin of 519Me-le the Seminole 489, 490Miami 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 -ÇLAC-O_