Briiiton.] 4db [Xov. 6, 



Mr. Cusliiug has poiutecl out a similarity between tlie cultural ele- 

 ments discovered there and those in the vicinity of the Etowah mounds, 

 where the particular design he showed upon the screen has been taken 

 from. We know that the Etowah mounds were distinctly in the Choc- 

 taw country. I believe, therefore, that from the cultural side of the 

 question we have evidence enough to say that the main dialect of south- 

 ern Florida at the time of the discovery was Choctaw. 



At the same time I desire to Ijriug forward some evidence to show 

 that it was not exclusively Choctaw culture. Our very eminent Ameri- 

 can archaeologist. Prof. Holmes, has made a study of pottery throughout 

 western Florida, in which he has shown that the decorations of that 

 pottery are peculiar in character and have manj' similarities to what he 

 calls the " Antillean culture," or the culture of the Great Antilles — 

 Cuba and so forth. In conversation with him, however, he tells me 

 that all the specimens on which he bases this are superficial finds ; in 

 other words, they lay upon the top of the mounds and village sites and 

 are not ancient. He believes, therefore, that the influence of that cul- 

 ture arrived at a comparatively late period. The explanation of that I 

 believe we can obtain from this same good old Spaniard, Fontaneda. 

 He tells us in his memoir that the natives of Cuba used to come across 

 the Gulf Stream and land in Florida in search of the fountain of life ; 

 and that they came finallj' in such numbers, that the king, Caloosa, or 

 his father, Sequene, assigned to them a particular village in which thej' 

 should live, telling them that it was useless to pursue that quest anj^ 

 further. No doubt he had looked for it himself, with disappointing re- 

 sults, and therefore he assigned to them a particular locality on one of 

 these islands, and told them to live there. In all likelihood they 

 brought with them some touches of Antillean culture, which explains 

 the decorative designs of Prof. Holmes. 



It is not likelj^ that we can find any trace there of true South Ameri- 

 can culture. The only people who occupied the Great Antilles and the 

 Bahamas and all the northern portion of the West Indies, were the 

 Arawaks. There has been some question of Caribbean decorative de- 

 signs ; but the Caribs never extended their permanent settlements even 

 to the island of Cuba. They were known there and Columbus first 

 lieard of them there, but they came merely as pirates ; they plundered 

 the shores and carried off women. These Caribs came rather late to 

 the northern shores of South America. They have been traced in the 

 last ten years in a manner which, I believe, is completely satisfactoiy to 

 American scholars. They never constructed a single permanent village 

 on any part of the North American continent ; never anywhere north 

 of the Isthmus of Panama ; never in Florida or along the gulf. If so, 

 we have no evidence of it whatever ; it has perished utterly. As to the 

 Mayas, Colum1)us distinctly heard of the Mayas in Cuba; his attention 

 was called to them by tlfc fact that the Cubans had wax, which they 

 did not make from their native bees. It was the discovery of that wax 

 in Cuba which led him to inquire and to ascertain that it came from the 



