1880.] 47d [Gatschet. 



As one of the pastimes of their young men is mentioned the throwing 

 of balls against a square mat made of bulrush reeds, hanging from a pole 

 8-9 fathoms high ; the one who succeeded in making the mat come down, 

 was winner in the game. 



At the death of a holata or chief, men and women cut their hair off to 

 half length, and a thorough abstention from food was ordered for three 

 days ; the deceased was buried ceremoniously, on the top of a terrace- 

 mound, a smaller mound erected over his grave, and a large conch or ma- 

 rine shell, which had been his drinking cup, placed over this monticule. 

 The conch was then surrounded hy a circle of arrows stuck perpendicu- 

 larly into the soil, at two or three feet distance from the conch. 



In a people which believes in the power of conjurers over ghosts and 

 spirits, the influence ofthebewitcher or shaman must be necessarily immense. 

 From Pareja's queries we gather the fact that mostly old men, naribua, were 

 acting as conjurers ; they consecrated the arrows before a hunting party 

 left for the w T oods, and when the game did not expire from the first 

 shots, they prayed over another arrow which would certainly finish it ; 

 they produced rain, restored lost objects to their owners, spoke their bene- 

 dictions over corn-cribs and new fish weirs, over a catch of fish and over 

 baskets of recently gathered fruits. They treated the sick with incanta- 

 tions and physicked them with herbs ; they sometimes cured them half- 

 ways only to exact more reward from them. They predicted future events, 

 especially at a time when everybody was interested in what they might re- 

 veal : during war-expeditions. Before going to war, the chief sitting amidst 

 his warriors, consulted one of the oldest and smartest conjurers (who had 

 to be also an accomplished contortionist), concerning the result of the war, 

 the force and the whereabouts of the enemy. In their midst the magician 

 knelt down on his small round target in such a manner as not to come in 

 contact with the soil ; after various incantations he derived inspiration 

 from demoniac powers, and while grimacing, drew a magic circle in the 

 sand around his shield. After contorting himself in the most terrific 

 manner for about twenty minutes, while singing incantations and uttering 

 imprecations against the enemy, he finally stood up, and after getting 

 cooler, he revealed to the "King" the number of the hostiles and their 

 hiding places or whereabouts and the best moment to attack them. 



Although we find no direct mention of solar and lunar worship in 

 Pareja's writings, both prevailed among the Timucua, and solar w T orship 

 throughout the Southern territories. The term acuhiba, moon, really means 

 indicator (of time), literally : "the one who tells." The Timucua wor- 

 shiped the sun under the image of a deer ; they raised a stuffed deer-skin 

 on a high pole and testified their reverence for it by singing and dancing 

 rites.* The sun was invoked before a battle and praised after a victory 

 gained ; the natives once refused to accept meat from the French and 



* This is perhaps the origin of the tribal name A'lsa, Ais, Ays, previously men- 

 tioned. 



PR0C. AMER. PHILOS. SOC. XVIII. 105. 3l. PRINTED MARCH 26, 1880. 



