Part 6 (1/2)

House where the warriors sit.

Squaws ++++++ ----------------------------------------------------------------

Use Of Medicines.

Concerning the use by the Indians of medicine against sickness, I learned only that they are in the habit of taking various herbs for their ailments. What part incantation or sorcery plays in the healing of disease I do not know. Nor did I learn what the Indians think of the origin and effects of dreams. Me-le told me that he knows of a plant the leaves of which, eaten, will cure the bite of a rattlesnake, and that he knows also of a plant which is an antidote to the noxious effects of the poison ivy or so-called poison oak.

General Observations.

I close this chapter by putting upon record a few general observations, as an aid to future investigation into Seminole life.

Standard of Value.

The standard of value among the Florida Indians is now taken from the currency of the United States. The unit they seem to have adopted, at least at the Big Cypress Swamp settlement, is twenty-five cents, which they call ”Kan-cat-ka-hum-kin” (literally, ”one mark on the ground”). At Miami a trader keeps his accounts with the Indians in single marks or pencil strokes. For example, an Indian brings to him buck skins, for which the trader allows twelve ”chalks.” The Indian, not wis.h.i.+ng then to purchase anything, receives a piece of paper marked in this way:

”IIII--IIII--IIII.

J. W. E. owes Little Tiger $3.”

At his next visit the Indian may buy five ”marks” worth of goods. The trader then takes the paper and returns it to Little Tiger changed as follows:

”IIII--III.

J. W. E. owes Little Tiger $1.75.”

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

What the primitive standard of value among the Seminole was is suggested to me by their word for money, ”Tcat-to Ko-na-wa.” ”Ko-na-wa” means beads, and ”Tcat-to,” while it is the name for iron and metal, is also the name for stone. ”Tcat-to” probably originally meant stone. Tcat-to Ko-na-wa (i.e., stone beads) was, then, the primitive money. With ”Hat-ki,” or white, added, the word means silver; with ”La-ni,” or yellow, added, it means gold. For greenbacks they use the words ”Nak-ho-tsi Tcat-to Ko-na-wa,” which is, literally, ”paper stone beads.”

Their methods of measuring are now, probably, those of the white man. I questioned my respondent closely, but could gain no light upon the terms he used as equivalents for our measurements.

Divisions Of Time.

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

1. cla-futs-u-tsi, Little Winter.

2. Ho-ta-li-ha-si, Wind Moon.

3. Ho-ta-li-ha-si-clak-o, Big Wind Moon.

4. Ki-ha-su-tsi, Little Mulberry Moon.

5. Ki-ha-si-clat-o, Big Mulberry Moon.

6. Ka-too-ha-si.

7. Hai-yu-tsi.

8. Hai-yu-tsi-clak-o.

9. O-ta-wus-ku-tsi.

10. O-ta-wus-ka-clak-o.

11. I-ho-li.

12. cla-fo-clak-o, Big Winter.

I suppose that the spelling of these words could be improved, but I reproduce them phonetically as nearly as I can, not making what to me would be desirable corrections. The months appear to be divided simply into days, and these are, in part at least, numbered by reference to successive positions of the moon at sunset. When I asked Tal-la-has-ke how long he would stay at his present camp, he made reply by pointing, to the new moon in the west and sweeping his hand from west to east to where the moon would be when he should go home. He meant to answer, about ten days thence. The day is divided by terms descriptive of the positions of the sun in the sky from dawn to sunset.

Numeration.