144 Harshberger. — Maize : 



tender and palatable state, during which time all hunting, and 

 all war excursions, and all other avocations, are positively- 

 dispensed with, and all join in the most excessive indulgence 

 of gluttony and conviviality that can possibly be conceived. 

 The fields of corn are pretty generally stripped during this 

 excess, and the poor, improvident Indian thanks the Great 

 Spirit for the indulgence he has had, and is satisfied to ripen 

 merely the few ears that are necessary for his next year's 

 planting, without reproaching himself for his wanton lavish- 

 ness, which has laid waste his fine field and robbed him of 

 the golden harvest which might have gladdened his heart, 

 with those of his children, through the cold and dreariness of 

 winter." 



The time of the harvest was also a season of festival and 

 rejoicing, when elaborate ceremonies were performed. The 

 festival was known among the Creeks as the Boos-ke tau 

 (time of maturity), or, for short, in English, the " Festival of 

 the Busk." Colonel Benjamin Hawkins has left us an 

 account of this feast ■} " On the morning of the first day the 

 warriors clean the yard of the square and sprinkle it with 

 white sand. The acee, or decoction of the cassine yupan 

 {Ilex cassine), is made. The fire-maker kindles the fire as 

 early as he can by friction. Four logs, each as long as a 

 man can cover by extending his two arms, are cut and 

 brought by the warriors and placed in the centre of the 

 square, end to end, thus forming a cross. The outer ends 

 indicate the cardinal points of the compass. In the centre 

 of the cross the new fire is made. These four logs are burnt 

 out during the first four days. The Pin-e-bun-gau (turkey 

 dance) is danced by the women of the turkey tribe, and 

 while they are dancing the possau is brewed. This is a 

 powerful emetic. From twelve o'clock to the middle of the 

 afternoon the possau is drunk. After this four men and four 

 women dance the Toc-co-yuh-gau (tadpole) from evening 

 until daylight. E-ne-hau-bun-gau (the dance of the people 

 second in command) is danced by the men. About ten 



1 Hawkins, Sketch of Creek Country, Coll. of Georgia Hist. Soc , ill, 75 ; Jones' 

 C. C, Antiquity of Southern Indians, 303. 



