swantunJ EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 361 
in Le Moyne's account of the disposition of t ho corn crop would lead 
one to suppose that he is speaking of family granaries, 1 and the same 
seems to be in sonic measure implied in the section in which he tells 
of the way in which native wild fruits were stored . He says : 
There are in that region a great, many islands, producing abundance of various kinds 
of fruits, which they gather twice a year, and carry heme in canoes, and store up in 
roomy low granaries built of stones and earth, and roofed thickly with palm-branches 
and a kind of soft earth fit for the purpose. These granaries are usually erected near 
some mountain, or on the bank of some river, so as to be out of the sun's rays, in order 
that the contents may keep better. Here they also store up any other provisions 
wliii h they may wish to preserve, and the remainder of their stores; and they go and 
get them as need mayrequire, without any apprehensions of being defrauded. Indeed 
it is to be wished that, among the Christians, avarice prevailed no more than among 
them, and tormented no more the minds of men. 2 
This use. of "stones and earth" for granaries is confined, so far as 
we now know, to Florida; elsewhere they were of poles. The mutual 
regard which they observed with reference to their stores did not pre- 
vent them from pilfering small articles from the French colonists. 
An anonymous writer says: 
They are, however, the greatest thieves in the world, for they take as well with the 
foot as with the hand. 3 
But he exonerates the women from this charge. Le Challeux, how- 
ever, confirms the main accusation: 
They steal without conscience and claim all that they can carry away secretly. 4 
In the following section, where Le Moyne speaks of the storage of 
animal food, he is certainly referring to a public storehouse: 
At a set time every year they gather in all sorts of wild animals, fish, and even 
crocodiles; these are then put in baskets, and loaded upon a sufficient number of 
the curly-haired hermaphrodites above mentioned, who carry them on their shoul- 
ders to the storehouse. This supply, however, they do not resort to unless in case 
of the last necessity. In such event, in order to preclude any dissension, full notice 
is L,d\en to all interested; for they live in the utmost harmony among themselves. 
The chief, however, is at liberty to take whatever of this supply he may choose. 6 
It does not seem very likely that all of the animal food was put 
into public storehouses and all of the corn and wild fruits into pri- 
vate ones. Evidently both kinds of granary were in existence, but our 
authorities are not clear regarding the relative functions of the two. 
The number of natural products drawn upon in addition to the 
cultivated plants and animal foods must have been very large, but 
we have only the reference just given, and one or two others. 
Ribault makes a statement to the effect that the natives gave them 
"mulberries, raspberries, and other fruits they found in their way," 6 
■Seep. 300. * Ibid., p. 461. 
* Le Moyne, Narrative, p. 9 (ill.). 6 Le Moyne, Narative, p. 9 ( ill.). 
• Gaffarel, op. cit., p. 405. » French, Hist. Colls. La., 1875, p. 173. 
