BWAHTOK] EARLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIANS 383 
tinned by the French, although their situation with respect to the 
town was not always central; and, moreover, they were sometimes 
placed upon mounds. Thus Elvas says that there was such a temple 
in the town of Ucita at the opposite end from the house of the chief. 
On the top was a wooden fowl with gilded eyes, "and within were 
found some pearls of small value, injured by fire, such as the Indians 
pierce for beads." l The temple of Tocobaga was in this section of 
Florida* and Tocobaga and Ucita may in fact have been the same place. 
Pareja's Confessionario gives us considerable insight into the 
smaller superstitions and taboos shared by the people as a whole, 
which compensate in some degree for a lack of more detailed informa- 
tion regarding tribal beliefs and ceremonies. When a kind of owl 
hooted it was believed to be saying something and it was appealed to for 
help. If this owl or another variety called the ''red owl" (mochuelo) 
hooted they said, "Do not interrupt it or it will do you harm." It 
was thought to be an omen, and usually one of evil. If a person 
uttered a cry when woodpeckers were making a noise it was thought 
he would have nosebleed. If one heard the noise made by a fawn he 
must put herbs into his nostrils to keep from sneezing, and if he did 
sneeze he must go home and bathe in an infusion of herbs or he 
would die. When one jay chattered to another it was a sign that a 
visitor was coming. In winter the small partridge (la gallina 
pequena) must not be eaten. When a snake was encountered, 
either on a country trail or in the house, it was believed to portend 
misfortune. When the fire crackled it was considered a sign of war, 
and war was also forecasted from lightning. Belching either por- 
tended death or else was a sign that there would be much food. 
Dreams were believed in. 
Omens were also drawn from the tremblings or twitchings of differ- 
ent parts of the body. Such a trembling sometimes indicated that 
a visitor was coming. If one's eyes trembled it portended weeping. 
If his mouth twitched it was a sign that something bad was going to 
happen to the individual, or that people were saying something about 
him, or that a feast was to take place. 
There were many food taboos. The first acorns or fruits gathered 
were not eaten. The corn in a cornfield where lightning had struck 
was not eaten, nor the first ripened corn. The first fish caught in 
a new fishweir was not eaten, but laid down beside it so that a great 
quantity of fish would come into it with the next tide. It was 
thought that if the first fish caught in such a weir were thrown into 
hot water, no other fish would be caught. After eating bear's meat 
they drank from a different shell than that ordinarily used so that 
they would not fall sick. When a man had lost his wife, a woman her 
1 Bourne, Narr. of De Soto, i, p. 23. » Barcia, La Florida, p. 127. 
