14 HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. 



carefully scraping them and working them in their hands until they 

 become soft and pliable. They also use the brains of the animal for 

 softening and curing the skin. 



The leggings which they wear are sometimes dyed a very rich 

 mahogany brown by soaking the skin in an infusion of mangrove 

 bark. The bark is boiled for several hours ; the skin is then im- 

 mersed in the liquid for half an hour. It is then taken out and dried 

 in the sun until it is merely moist, although it will not do to let it get 

 entirely dry. It is then immersed a second time for about half an 

 hour, and upon being taken out and dried it is ready for use. 



The brain-tanned skin, which has not been dyed, becomes very 

 hard and stiff when wet unless it is continually worked over and kept 

 soft by manipulation, but skins which have been prepared by tan- 

 ning with mangrove bark are very little affected by rain, and make 

 very pretty leggings and moccasins. 



It is rare that the Seminoles ornament their moccasins with beads, 

 and I have seen but two pairs of moccasins made in this manner ; 

 one I procured from Old Doctor, who brought them into Lantana 

 just as I was coming out from a hunting expedition. The old man 

 was anxious to dispose of them to get money to buy whisky. They 

 were neatly ornamented with lines of beads. 



Old Doctor was one of the Indians that took part in the last war. 

 He is still hale and hearty and does not like a white man an}^ better 

 than he ever did. 



I have asked a number of Indians regarding their antidote for 

 snake poison, and have been told by two or three different ones with 

 whom I was well acquainted that they had no antidote for the bite of 

 the rattlesnake. Both Osceola and Old Charlie had no reason for 

 deceiving me, as they told me many things about their manners and 

 customs, and often evinced their good feelings toward me by making 

 me presents of sweet potatoes, eggs, and venison. 



Osceola's wife was once bitten by a moccasin, and I am told that the 

 wound did not heal for nearly a year, and at times she was troubled 

 with fever, which may or may not have been the result of the bite. 



At many of the camps the Indians now keep hens and pigs. In 



