PARADISE KEY SAFFORD. 431 



other. This day they were stricter than the other two days, for no woman 

 must look upon them ; but if any of their women went out of their houses they 

 went veiled with a mat.^ 



The Indians had narrow canoes in which they crossed inlets and 

 rivers. When they visited outlying keys or wrecks they lashed two 

 canoes together by transverse poles upon which they made platforms 

 for carrying their effects. In this way they sometimes navigated as 

 far as the island of Cuba. They appeared to be under the sway of 

 the Spanish and showed hostility to all Englishmen or castaways 

 whom they suspected of being English. Dickenson tells of the ar- 

 rival of Spanish soldiers from St. Augustine, and describes the cha- 

 grin of the Indians when, instead of ill treatment, the Englishmen 

 met with kindness at the hands of their rescuers, by whom they were 

 taken to St. Augustine. 



It may be of interest here to note the use of the acorns of the live 

 oak (pi. 60) by the Florida Indians, who, after removing the bitter 

 tannic acid by soaking the kernels in water, ground them up and 

 made them into cakes or mush. The early Spaniards, when their 

 supply of Mexican chocolate was exhausted, used these acorns as a 

 substitute for cacao in preparing a chocolatelike drink, not, however, 

 altogether satisfactory as a substitute, with which they regaled their 

 guests. 



In the wars between the Spanish and the English the Indians 

 above described were loyal to the Spaniards, while the Creeks and 

 several other more northerly tribes were allies of the English. 

 Finally, in 1763, when Florida was ceded by Spain to England the 

 " Spanish Indians " sought refuge on the outlying keys and many of 

 them removed to Cuba. Among those that remained in Florida were 

 the Muspahs, who maintained their individuality until the close of 

 the Second Seminole War. Unfortunately nothing is known of the 

 languages of these south Florida tribes, so that their linguistic rela- 

 tionship to other tribes can not be determined. 



SEMIXOLES. 



As already stated, the Seminoles are comparatively recent in- 

 truders. They belong to the Muskhogean stock, and are therefore 

 related to the Choctaws, Chickasaws, and Creeks, but not to the 

 Timucuas encountered by the French Hugenots at the mouth of the 

 St. Johns Eiver. They are the descendants of immigrants from 

 lower Creek towns who retreated to southern Florida in the eight- 

 eenth century.^ The name by which they are now known, signify- 



1 Dickenson, Narrative of a Shipwreck in the Gulph of Florida, Cth ed., pp. 47-49. 

 1803. 



* Much misinformation has been published regarding the origin of the Seminoles. One 

 recent writer refers to them as descendants of the Aztecs, and at the same time connects 



