PAEADISE KEY — SAFFORD. 427 



The most complete account available of the Indians who preceded 

 the Seminoles in southern Florida is that of Jonathan Dickenson, 

 who in 1699 while on a vessel bound from Jamaica to Philadelphia, 

 with his wife and infant child, was wrecked on the southeast coast 

 of Florida. 



Several editions of his narrative have been published, the first one 

 appearing in Philadelphia in 1699. It is a pathetic story of suffer- 

 ing. He, his wife, and his companions were stripped of their clothing 

 and all their possessions and most cruelly treated by the Indians, 

 but the Indian women, taking pity on his infant child, suckled it 

 when its mother's milk was exhausted. From his account, which 

 agrees essentially with that of Fontaneda, an accurate idea may be 

 gleaned of the appearance of the Indians, their 

 food, domestic economy, weapons, etc. 



They were of fine physique. The men went 

 naked except for a triangular breechcloth plaited 

 of straw and wrought with divers colors, with a 

 belt of the same material about four fingers wide. 

 A string from the lower corner passed between 

 the legs and was tied to the two ends of the belt 

 which met behind the back, and from the knot 

 hung a bunch of silk grass (fiber of Yucca fila- 

 ment osa ) of a flaxen color resembling a horse's tail. 

 They also had deerskin cloaks. Their long hair FlG- 31. — aborigi- 

 was coiled in a knot into which were stuck two NAL Indian of 



. , iTi i n ,■,,-, Southern Flor- 



bones, one shaped like a broad arrow, the other ida drinking from 

 like a spearhead (fig. 31). SHELL cup - 



Their wigwams were made of small poles stuck in the ground, with 

 the upper ends arched together, and thatched with palmetto leaves. 

 The wigwam of the " cassekey " (cacique) was " about a man's height 

 to the top," and within it was a " cabin," or platform, about a foot 

 high, made with sticks and covered with a mat, which served as a set- 

 tee and couch. At one village the cacique's house was about 40 feet 

 long and 20 feet wide, covered with palmetto leaves, and within it on 

 one side and at the two ends there was " a range of cabins or barbe- 

 cue." In some places the houses were built upon mounds artificially 

 constructed of shells. Dickenson describes a flood caused by a violent 

 gale from the northeast, which caused the water to rise in the chief's 

 house and obliged him to seek refuge in a house on a higher mound. 

 The household utensils consisted of mats, bags of woven straw used 

 for storing dried berries, baskets, gourds, and drinking cups made of 

 sea shells. Though he does not describe their earthenware he men- 

 tions pots in which they brewed their ceremonial drink called cas- 

 sine. Palmetto leaves were used as trays in serving food 



