swanton] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 357 
Btedy: the heads of the same are vipers teeth, bones of fishes, flint stones, piked points 
of knives, which they hauing gotten of the French men, broke the same, & put the 
points of them in their arrowea heads: some of them haue their heads of siluer, other- 
some thai haue want of these, pul in a kind of hard wood, notched, which pierceth 
as farre as any of the rest. In their fight, being in the woods, they vse a maruellous 
pollicie for their owne safegard, which is by clasping a tree in their armes, and yet 
shooting notwithstanding: this policy they vsed with the French men in their fight, 
whereby it appeareth that they are people of some policy. 1 
Commenting on the weapons of the Timucua farther west, Elvas 
says: 
Their bows are very perfect; the arrows are made of certain canes, like reeds, very 
heavy, and so stiff that one of them, when sharpened, will pass through a target. 
Some are pointed with the bone of a fish, sharp, and like a chisel; others with some 
stone like a point of diamond; of such the greater number, when they strike upon 
armor, break at the place the parts are put together; those of cane split, and will enter 
a shirt of mail, doing more injury than when armed. 2 
Le Moyne speaks of arrows with gold heads sent in by one of the 
Frenchmen from the western Timucua, but these were probably 
copper. 3 Their arrows were not poisoned. 4 Quivers were made of 
skins, but from Le Challeux it appears that their hair was impressed 
into service as a natural receptacle for arrows (see p. 347). He adds: 
It is wonderful how suddenly they take them in their hands in order to shoot to a 
distance and as straight as possible. 8 
A wrist guard made from bark is described and figured by 
Le Moyne. 8 
Deer were stalked, as we know from a picture of Le Moyne's and 
the following description accompanying it: 
The Indians have a way of hunting deer which we never saw before. They manage 
to put on the skins of the largest which have been taken, in such a manner, with the 
heads on their own heads, so that they can see out through the eyes as through a 
mask. Thus accoutered they can approach close to the deer without frightening them. 
They take advantage of the time when the animals come to drink at the river, and, 
having their bow and arrows all ready, easily shoot them, as they are very plentiful in 
those regions. 7 
The only difference to be noticed between the method illustrated 
here and that known to have been used north and west is the use of 
the entire deerskin instead of the head only. 
The spears spoken of and illustrated by Le Moyne were probably 
used in killing fish; probably fishhooks were also in use. The only 
method of fishing about which we have direct information, however, 
was by means of fish traps or weirs. Some are figured by Le 
Moyne, 8 and Ribault says that they were "built in the water with 
1 Hakluyt, Voyages, in. p. 613. » Gaflarel, Hist. Floride 1 rancaise , p. 461. 
1 Bourne, Narr. of Dc Soto, I, p. 26. • Le Moyne, op. cit., p. 10 (ill.), pi. 14. 
I Le Moyne, Narrat ive, p. 8. 7 Ibid., p. 10 (ill.). 
* Bourne, op. cit . ii, p. 69. 8 Ibid., pi. 3. 
