8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 8l 



had done, by the space of half an hour, he sprinkled, with his hand, a 

 little of the water, which he held in a vessel, upon the heads of the 

 paracoussies, and cast the rest, as it were, in a rage and despite, into a 

 fire, which was there prepared for the purpose. This done, he cried 

 out, thrice, He Tliiiiiogoa! and was followed with five hundred In- 

 dians, at the least, which were there assembled, which cried, all with 

 one voice. He TJiUnogoa! " 



These events transpired during the latter part of August, 1564. 



SATURIOUA— DRAWING BY LEMOYNE 



The original drawing now reproduced for the first time, is in 

 crayon — black and sanguine. It bears a legend in Italian which reads : 

 Saturiona Re della Florida ncW America Settertionale in atto di 

 andarc alia Gtierra. Translated it is : " Saturioua King of Florida in 

 North America in the act of going to war." This evidently shows the 

 chief immediately after the completion of the ceremony mentioned on 

 preceding pages. He has grasped his spear but continues to hold the 

 wooden bowl containing water. 



Details are revealed in the drawing with great clearness. Several 

 of these may be explained by quoting from Lemoyne's notes attached 

 to various sketches reproduced by De Bry. Describing the peculiar 

 ear ornament represented as being worn by Saturioua, Lemoyne wrote : 

 " All the men and women have the ends of their ears pierced, and pass 

 through them small oblong fish-bladders, which when inflated shine 

 like pearls, and which, being dyed red, look like a light-colored car- 

 buncle." Tattooing was practiced extensively and " all these chiefs 

 and their wives ornament their skins with punctures arranged so as to 



make certain designs Doing this sometimes makes them sick 



for seven or eight days. They rub the punctured places with a certain 

 herb, which leaves an indelible color." But the strangest of their 

 customs, " For the sake of further ornament and magnificence, they 

 let the nails of their fingers and toes grow, scraping them down at 

 the sides with a certain shell, so that they are left very sharp. They 

 are also in the habit of painting the skin around their mouths of a blue 

 color." Elsewhere Lemoyne wrote: " They let their nails grow long 

 both on fingers and toes, cutting the former away, however, at the 

 sides, so as to leave them very sharp, the men especially ; and, when 

 they take one of the enemy, they sink their nails deep in his forehead, 

 and tear down the skin, so as to wound and blind him." 



Such were some of the strange and curious customs of the people 

 of Florida more than three and one-half centuries ago. 



