swanton] EARLY HISTORY OF THK CREEK INDIANS 389 
It is referred to at more length in the notes of Lopez de Velasco 
from which we have already quoted. 1 He says: 
The Indians of Carlos have the following customs: 
First . Every time that t lie son of a cacique dies, each neighbor sacrifices (or kills) 
his sons or daughters who have accompanied the dead body of the cacique's son. 
Second. When the cacique himself, or the caciqua [his wife] dies, every servant of 
his or hers, as the case may be, is put to death. 
Third. Each year they kill a Christian captive to feed their idol, which they adore, 
and they say that it has to eat every year the eyes of a man, and then they all dance 
around the dead man's head. 
Fourth. Every year after the summer begins they make witches, in the shape of 
devils with horns on their heads, howling like wolves, and many other idols of different 
kinds, who cry loud like wild beasts, which they remain four months. They never 
rest, but on the contrary, they keep on the run with fury all the time, day and night. 
The actions of these bestial creatures are worth relating. 2 
The following, also from the notes of Lopez de Velasco, is all that I 
have been able to find regarding the customs of the Tekesta Indians. 
This writer extends the term, however, to cover the entire southeast 
coast of Florida as far as Cape Canaveral. 
The Indians of Tegesta, which is another province extending from the Martires to 
Canaveral, have a custom, when the cacique dies, of disjointing his body and 
taking out the largest bones. These are placed in a large box and carried to the 
house of the cacique, where every Indian from the town goes to see and adore them, 
believing them to be their gods. 
In winter all the Indians go out to sea in their canoes, to hunt for sea cows. One of 
their number carries three stakes fastened to his girdle and a rope on his arm. When 
he discovers a sea cow he throws his rope around its neck, and as the animal sinks under 
the water, the Indian drives a stake through one of its nostrils, and no matter how much 
it may dive, the Indian never loses it, because he goes on its back. After it has been 
killed they cut open its head and take out two large bones, which they place in the 
coffin, with the bodies of their dead and worship them. 3 
Concerning the other east coast peoples, the Jeaga and Ais, nothing is 
to be had from Spanish sources, but this gap is in some degree filled 
by the information contained in a small work entitled "Narrative of 
a Shipwreck in the Gulph of Florida: Showing, God's Protecting 
Providence, Man's Surest Help and Defence in Times of Greatest 
Difficulty, and Most Imminent Danger. Faithfully Related by One 
of the Persons Concerned therein, Jonathan Dickenson." This 
describes the adventures of the passengers and crew of a vessel which 
sailed from Port Royal, Jamaica, June 23, 1699, and was wrecked on 
the east coast of Florida on July 23 following. The place where this 
vessel struck was a few miles northward of an inlet called Hobe, now 
known as Jupiter Inlet. The Indians stripped them of all of their 
clothing and other possessions, but spared their lives. They took 
them first to the town at Hobe, probably identical with Fontaneda's 
i See p. 374. 3 Brooks MSS., Lib. Cong. Translated by Miss 
1 Lowery and Brooks, MSS. Translated by Miss Brooks, 
Brooks. 
