362 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 73 
and there is a reference to the use of chinquapins in one of the De 
Soto narratives. 1 Laudonniere speaks of "mulberries, both red and 
white," also of grapes. 2 The last are also mentioned by Le Ohalleux 3 
and Spark. 4 From Utina the French received upon one occasion 
two baskets of "pinocks, which are a kind of little green fruit, which 
grow among the weeds, in the river, and are as big as cherries." 5 
It is evident from the context that the berries to which Ribault 
refers were plucked and eaten fresh. Among the roots mentioned 
the kunti of the Florida Seminole is perhaps to be included, though 
the latitude is rather high for it, or they might have had the original 
kunti of the Creeks, the China brier. Acorns are referred to by one 
writer, 6 and Spark states that the French resorted to them in their 
extremity, washing thenTseveral times in order to remove the bitter 
taste, 7 from which it may be assumed that they prepared them in 
the same manner as the Indians to the north. A marginal extension 
of the native dietary is indicated by Laudonniere and Pareja. The 
former says: 
In necessity they eat a thousand rifraffs, even to the swallowing down of coal, 
and putting sand into the pottage that they make with the meal. 8 
And from Pareja's catechism it appears that on occasion they ate 
coal, dirt, broken pottery, fleas, and lice, though some of these may 
have been taken rather as remedies than as food. 9 
Not much can be gathered from our French informants regarding 
the social organization of these people, but there is enough to show 
that they had a class of chiefs to whom great respect was paid, 
indicating resemblances to the oligarchic system of the Creeks. 
Ribault says: 
It is their manner to talk and bargain sitting; and the chief or king to be separated 
from the common people; with a show of great obedience to their kings, elders, and 
superiors. 10 
This impression is confirmed by Pareja, the Franciscan missionary, 
and in addition he gives us some information regarding both the 
caste and the clan systems, the only information of this nature acces- 
sible to us. Naturally this account leaves much to be desired, but 
we should rather rejoice at its completeness under the circum- 
stances than complain on account of its omissions. This part of 
Pareja's catechism has been published and most of it translated 
1 Bourne, Narr. of De Soto, n, pp. 70-71. 
2 French, op. cit., 1869, pp. 181, 182, 257. 
3 Gaffarel, Hist. Floride francaise, p. 462. 
♦ Hakluyt, Voyages, m, p. 613. 
* Laudonniere, La Floride, p. 149; French, Hist. Colls. La., 1869, p. 298. 
• See p. 358; also cf. pp. 359 and 383. 
' Hakluyt, Voyages, in, p. 614. 
8 Laudonniere, op. cit., p. 9; French, op. cit., p. 172. 
• Proc. Am. Philos. Soc., xvi, p. 683. 
io French, Hist. Colls. La., 1875, p. 171. 
