houses of the Timucua and Creeks, with which it may indeed have been identical, since the chief among the Creeks was at the same time guardian of the town house. The house of the Santa Lucia chief has already been described. His own seat is placed "at the upper end of the cabin"; but from the context it is evident that the middle of the side farthest from the door is intended. The wording is in somewhat archaic English and by no means clear, but we must assume one of two arrangements as follows:

In the first plan it does not seem natural that the head men should sit on either side of the door, where in most tribes the slaves or inferior persons were placed; in the second it does not seem natural to break up the floor space, yet a similar order is met with in a Cusabo town (see p. 64), and was probably the correct one. Daily meetings were held here, in which the black drink was brewed and imbibed in quantities, the custom resembling closely in its observances that found among the Creeks. Dickenson describes it thus:

The Indians were seated as aforesaid, the cassekey at the upper end of them, and the range of cabins was filled with men, women, and children, beholding us. At length we heard a woman or two cry, according to their manner, and that very sorrowfully, one of which I took to be the cassekey's wife; which occasioned some of us to think that something extraordinary was to be done to us; we also heard a strange sort of a noise, which was not like the noise made by a man, but we could not understand what, nor where it was; for sometimes it sounded to be in one part of the house, and sometimes in another, to which we had an ear. And indeed our ears and eyes could perceive or hear nothing but what was strange and dismal, and death seemed to surround us; but time discovered this noise to us. The occasion of it was thus: In one part of this house, where a fire was kept, was an Indian man, having a pot on the fire wherein he was making a drink of a shrub, which we understood afterwards

1 Dickenson, Narrative, pp. 33-34.

by the Spaniards is called Casseena, boiling the said leaves, after they had parched them in a pot; then with a gourd, having a long neck, and at the top of it a small hole, which the top of one's finger could cover, and at the side of it a round hole of two inches diameter. They take the liquor out [of] the pot, and put it into a deep round bowl, which being almost filled, contains nigh three gallons; with this gourd they brew the liquor and make it froth very much; it looks of a deep brown colour. In the brewing of this liquor was this noise made, which we thought strange; for the pressing of the gourd gently down into the liquor, and the air it contained being forced out of a little hole at the top, occasioned a sound, and according to the time and motion given, would be various. The drink when made cool to sup. was in a shell first carried to the cassekey, who threw part of it on the ground and the rest he drank up, and then made a loud hem; and afterwards the cup passed to the rest of the casse key's associates as aforesaid; but no other person must touch or taste of this sort of drink; of which they sat sipping, chattering, and smoking tobacco, or some other herb instead thereof, for the most part of the day. '

The evening festivities which followed were much after the same style.

In the evening we being laid on the place aforesaid [on mats on the floor], the Indians made a drum of a skin, covering therewith the deep bowl, in which they brewed their drink, beating thereon with a stick; and having a couple of rattles made of a small gourd, put on a stick with small stones in it, shaking it, they began to set up a most hideous howling, very irksome to us; and some time after came many of their young women, some singing, some dancing. This continued till midnight, after which they went to sleep.2

All this was at the town of Santa Lucia, and there also the Pennsylvanians had an opportunity to observe the ceremony with which an ambassador from another chief was received. In this case the emissary was from the chief of Ais, who, as has been said, seems to have been considered the superior of the chief of Santa Lucia and all other chiefs in that region. Says Dickenson:

About the tenth hour we observed the Indians to be in a sudden motion, and the principal part of them betook themselves to their houses; the cassekey went to dressing his head and painting himself, and so did all the rest; after they had done, they came into the cassekey's house and seated themselves in order. In a small time after came an Indian with some small attendance into the house making a ceremonious motion, and seated himself by the cassekey, and the persons that came with him seated themselves amongst the others; after a small pause the cassekey began a discourse which held him nigh an hour, after which, the strange Indian and his companions went forth to the water side to their canoe, lying in the sound, and returned presently with such presents as they had brought, delivering them to the cassekey and those sitting by, giving an applause. The presents were a few bunches of the herb they had made their drink of and another herb they use instead of tobacco, and some plaited balls stuffed with moss to lay their heads on instead of pillows; the ceremony being ended, they all seated themselves again and went to drinking casseena, smoking, and talking during the stranger's stay.3

Soon after several of the white people were themselves asked to take seats in the cabin, beside the chief-an evident mark of honor."

1 Dickenson, Narrative, pp. 33-36. Ibid., p. 36.

Ibid., pp. 36-37.

The chief of Ais was treated with still more respect by his own people. Dickenson thus describes his return from Hobe, whither he had gone in the hope of obtaining some of the things out of the wrecked vessel:

We perceived he came in state, having his two canoes lashed together, with poles across from one to the other, making a platform, which being covered with a mat, on it stood a chest, which belonged to us, and my negro boy Cesar, that the cassekey of Hoe-bay took from me, whom he had got from the Indians; upon this chest he sat cross legged, being newly painted red, and his men with poles setting the canoe along to the shore. On seeing us, he cried "Wough," and looked very stern at us. He was received by his people with great homage, holding out his hands, as their custom is, to be kissed, having his chest carried before him to his house, whither he went, and the house was filled with Indians: the old cassekey began, and held a discourse for some hours, giving an account, as we suppose, what he heard and saw, in which discourse he would often mention Nickaleer, which caused us to fear, that all things were not well. After he had told his story, and some of the elder Indians had expressed their sentiments thereon, they drank casseena, and smoked till evening.1

Some of these social customs, such, for instance, as the brewing of the black drink, contain religious elements, but, beyond these, two ceremonies are described which seem to have been primarily religious. The first took place the night after the arrival of our travelers at Hobe. It is detailed thus:

Night being come and the moon being up, an Indian, who performed their ceremonies, stood out, looking full at the moon, making a hideous noise, and crying out, acting like a mad man for the space of half an hour, all the Indians being silent till he had done; after which they made a fearful noise, some like the barking of a dog, wolf, and other strange sounds; after this, one got a log and set himself down, holding the stick or log upright on the ground, and several others got about him, making a hideous noise, singing to our amazement; at length their women joined the concert, and made the noise more terrible, which they continued till midnight.2

The first part was probably a shamanistic performance; the latter may have been merely a social dance, the upright log being really an extemporized drum. The second ceremonial took place at Ais between the 18th and 25th of August and the account we have of it is the only narrative in any way complete of an Ais ceremonial. From the first sentence it might be thought that this was a monthly ceremony, but there is no certainty. It strongly suggests the Creek busk and probably belonged in the same class, though these people did not raise corn and the date of celebrating it was a month or two too late for a new-corn ceremony. The account follows:

It now being the time of the moon's entering the first quarter the Indians had a ceremonious dance, which they began about 8 o'clock in the morning. In the first place came in an old man, and took a staff about 8 feet long, having a broad arrow on the head thereof, and thence halfway painted red and white, like a barber's pole. In the middle of this staff was fixed a piece of wood, shaped like unto a thigh, leg,

and foot of a man, and the lower part of it was painted black. This staff, being carried out of the cassekey's house, was set fast in the ground standing upright, which being done he brought out a basket containing six rattles, which were taken out thereof and placed at the foot of the staff. Another old man came in and set up a howling like unto a mighty dog, but beyond him for length of breath, withal making a proclamation. This being done and most of them having painted themselves, some red, some black, some with black and red, with their bellies girt up as tight as well they could girt themselves with ropes, having their sheaths of arrows at their backs and their bows in their hands, being gathered together about the staff, six of the chiefest men in esteem amongst them, especially one who is their doctor, took up the rattles and began an hideous noise, standing round the staff with their rattles and bowing to it without ceasing for about half an hour. Whilst these six were thus employed all the rest were staring and scratching, pointing upwards and downwards on this and the other side, every way looking like men frightened, or more like furies. Thus they behaved until the six had done shaking their rattles; then they all began to dance, violently stamping on the ground for the space of an hour or more without ceasing, in which time they sweat in a most excessive manner, so that by the time the dance was over, by their sweat and the violent stamping of their feet, the ground was trodden into furrows, and by morning the place where they danced was covered with maggots; thus, often repeating the manner, they continued till about 3 or 4 o'clock in the afternoon, by which time many were sick and faint. Being gathered into the cassekey's house they sat down, having some hot casseena ready, which they drank plentifully of, and gave greater quantities thereof to the sick and faint than to others; then they eat berries. On these days they eat not any food till night.

The next day, about the same time, they began their dance as the day before; also the third day they began at the usual time, when many Indians came from other towns and fell to dancing, without taking any notice one of another. This day they were stricter than the other two days, for no woman must look upon them, but if any of their women went out of their houses they went veiled with a mat.1

The fact that the castaways had an abundance of fish and berries to eat on the 25th probably had something to do with the ceremony, feasting being a constant preliminary accompaniment of fasting. The day after (i. e., the 26th) Dickenson says:

We observed that great baskets of dried berries were brought in from divers towns and delivered to the king or young cassekey, which we supposed to be a tribute to the king of this town, who is chief of all the towns from St. a Lucia to the northward of this town of Jece.2

These presents were probably rather to discharge social obligations or secure the good will of the chief than actual tribute, and it is to be suspected that they had some connection with the ceremony just concluded.

Altogether the culture of the people of Ais and the east Florida coast generally seems to have belonged with that of Calos. Its simplicity was partly due, without doubt, to the poverty of the country; in fact, in later times the economic condition was considerably advanced by frequent wrecks along the coast, though at the same time native industry must have been proportionately

discouraged. The rather high position of the chief is probably attributable in some degree to the influence of their neighbors on the north and west.

THE SEMINOLE

The history of the Seminole is very well known in outline, and much has been written regarding our famous Seminole war; yet it is evident that much remains to be said, on the Indian side at least, before we can have a clear understanding of the Seminole people and Seminole history. The name, as is well known, is applied by the Creeks to people who remove from populous towns and live by themselves, and it is commonly stated that the Seminole consisted of "runaways" and outlaws from the Creek Nation proper. A careful study of their history, however, shows this to be only a partial statement of the

case.

Perhaps the best account we have regarding the beginnings of the Seminole is by Bartram. The destruction of the Apalachee towns in the manner elsewhere narrated had partially cleared the way for settlements in Florida by Indians from the north, and in the period immediately succeeding bodies of them gradually pushed southward from the large Creek towns on Chattahoochee River. The first impulse toward Florida of any consequence began with that great upheaval we have so often mentioned-the Yamasee war. The Yamasee themselves entered Florida almost in a body, but they arrived there as friends of the Spaniards, adding their strength to the decaying forces of the original Floridian tribes, and themselves shared in large measure the fate of those peoples-extermination or expulsion from the country. At the same time a movement was started which resulted in the invasion of the peninsula on its western side, and this, indeed, marks the real beginning of the Seminole. Bartram gives an account of it in describing his journey from the Savannah River to Mobile, and it has been reproduced in detailing the history of the Oconee Indians.2

By consulting this it will be seen that the Oconee Indians were a nucleus about which the Seminole Nation grew up. It is evident that for a considerable period part of them remained near the Chattahoochee, for they are recorded in the census of 17613 and their town is described by Hawkins in 1799. It disappears in the interval between 1799 and 1832, when the government census of Creeks was taken, and probably all had then moved to Florida. Brinton says that the first group of Seminole came into Florida in 1750, under a chief named Secoffee. He was probably the one known to the English as

1 See pp. 121-123.

2 See p. 180.

Ga. Col. Docs., vш, p. 522.

* See p. 181.

Brinton, The Floridian Peninsula, p. 145.