396 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [ bull. 73 
The chief of Ais was treated with still more respect by his own 
people. Dickenson thus describes his return from Hobe, whither he 
had gone in the hope of obtaining some of the things out of the 
wrecked vessel: 
We perceived he came in state, having his two canoes lashed together, with poles 
across from one to the other, making a platform, which being covered with a mat, on 
it stood a chest, which belonged to us, and my negro boy Cesar, that the cassekey of 
Hoe-bay took from me, whom he had got from the Indians; upon this chest he sat 
cross legged, being newly painted red, and his men with poles setting the canoe 
along to the shore. On seeing us, he cried " Wough, " and looked very stern at us. 
He was received by his people with great homage, holding out his hands, as their 
custom is, to be kissed, having his chest carried before him to his house, whither he 
went, and the house was filled with Indians: the old cassekey began, and held a dis- 
course for some hours, giving an account, as we suppose, what he heard and saw, in 
which discourse he would often mention Nickaleer, which caused us to fear, that all 
things were not well. After he had told his story, and some of the elder Indians had 
expressed their sentiments thereon, they drank casseena, and smoked till evening.' 
Some of these social customs, such, for instance, as the brewing of 
the black drink, contain religious elements, but, beyond these, two 
ceremonies are described which seem to have been primarily reli- 
gious. The first took place the night after the arrival of our travel- 
ers at Hobe. It is detailed thus : 
Night being come and the moon being up, an Indian, who performed their cere- 
monies, stood out, looking full at the moon, making a hideous noise, and crying out, 
acting like a mad man for the space of half an hour, all the Indians being silent till he 
had done; after which they made a fearful noise, some like the barking of a dog, wolf, 
and other strange sounds; after this, one got a log and set himself down, holding the 
stick or log upright on the ground, and several others got about him, making a hideous 
noise, singing to our amazement; at length their women joined the concert, and made 
the noise more terrible, which they continued till midnight. 2 
The first part was probably a shamanistic performance; the latter 
may have been merely a social dance, the upright log being 
really an extemporized drum. The second ceremonial took place at 
Ais between the 18th and 25th of August and the account we have 
of it is the only narrative in any way complete of an Ais ceremonial. 
From the first sentence it might be thought that this was a monthly 
ceremony, but there is no certainty. It strongly suggests the Creek 
busk and probably belonged in the same class, though these people 
did not raise corn and the date of celebrating it was a month or two 
too late for a new-corn ceremony. The account follows : 
It now being the time of the moon's entering the first quarter the Indians had a 
ceremonious dance, which they began about 8 o'clock in the morning. In the first 
place came in an old man, and took a staff about 8 feet long, having a broad arrow 
on the head thereof, and thence halfway painted red and white, like a barber's pole. 
In the middle of this staff was fixed a piece of wood, shaped like unto a thigh, leg, 
' I >i( kenson, Narrative, p. 48. » Ibid., p. 19. 
