BULL. 30] 



CALUMET CALUSA 



195 



to violate openly the faith attested by 

 the calumet, and sought to deceive an 

 intended victim by the use of a false 

 calumet of peace in an endeavor to make 

 the victim in some measure responsible 

 for the consequences. On one occasion 

 a band of Sioux, seeking to destroy some 

 Indians and their protectors, a French 

 officer and his men, presented, in the 

 guise of friendship, 12 calumets, appar- 

 ently of peace; but the officer, who was 

 versed in such matters and whose suspi- 

 cion was aroused by the number offered, 

 consulted an astute Indian attached to 

 his force, who caused him to see that 

 among the 12 one of the calumet shafts 

 was not matted with hair like the others, 

 and that on the shaft was graven the 

 figure of a viper, coiled around it. The 

 officer was made to understand that this 

 was the sign of covert treachery, thus 

 frustrating the intended Sioux plot. 



The use of the calumet, sometimes called 

 ' ' peace-pipe ' ' and ' ' war pipe, ' ' was wide- 

 spread in the Mississippi valley gener- 

 ally. It has been found among the Pota- 

 watomi, Cheyenne, Shoshoni, Pawnee 

 Loups, Piegan, Santee, Yanktonais, Siha- 

 sapa, Kansa, Siksika, Crows, Cree, Skit- 

 swish, Nez Perces, Illinois, Chickasaw, 

 Choctaw, Chitimacha, Chippewa, Winne- 

 bago, and Natchez. In the Ohio and St 

 Lawrence valleys and southward its use 

 is not so definitely shown. 



For more detailed information consult 

 Charlevoix, Journal, 1761; Dorsev in 3d 

 Kep. B. A. E., 1885; Fletclier In 22d 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1904; Jesuit Relations 

 and Allied Documents, Thwaites ed., 

 i-Lxxiii, 1896-1901; Lafitau, Moeurs 

 des Sauvages, 1724; Le Page du Pratz, 

 Hist, de la Louisiane, 1758; Lesueur, La 

 Danse du Calumet, in Les Soirees Cana- 

 diennes, iv, 1864; McGuire in Rep. Nat. 

 Mus. 1897, 1899; Perrot, Memoire, 1864; 

 Relations des Jesuites, i-iii, 1858. See 

 Catlinite, Ceremony, Dance, Pipes, To- 

 bacco, (j. N. B. H.) 



Calumet. A former Menominee village 

 on the E. shore of L. Winnebago, Wis., 

 with 150 inhabitants in 1817. — Starrow in 

 Wis. Hist. Soc. Coll., vi, 171, 1872; Royce 

 in 18th Rep. B. A. E., pi. clxxi, 1899. 



Calusa. An important tribe of Florida, 

 formerly holding the s. w. coast from 

 about Tampa bay to C. Sable and C. 

 Florida, together with all the outlying 

 keys, and extending inland to L. Okee- 

 chobee. They claimed more or less au- 

 thority also over the tribes of the e. coast, 

 N. to about C. Caiiaveral. The name, 

 which can not be interpreted, appears as 

 Calos or Carlos (province) in the early 

 Spanish and French records, Caloosa and 

 Coloosa in later English authors, and 

 survives in Caloosa village, Caloosa- 

 hatchee r., and Charlotte (for Carlos) 



harbor within their old territory. They 

 cultivated the ground to a limited extent, 

 but were better noted as expert fishers, 

 daring seamen, and fierce and determined 

 fighters, keeping up their resistance to 

 the Spanish arms and missionary ad- 

 vances after all the rest of Florida had 

 submitted. Their men went nearly 

 naked. They seem to have practised 

 human sacrifice of captives upon a whole- 

 sale scale, scalped and dismembered their 

 slain enemies, and have repeatedly been 

 accused of being cannibals. Although 

 this charge is denied by Adair (1775), 

 who was in position to know, the evi- 

 dence of the mounds indicates that it 

 was true in the earlier period. 



Their history begins in 1513 when, with 

 a fieet of SO canoes they boldly attacked 

 Ponce de Leon, who was about to land on 

 their coast, and after an all-day fight com- 

 pelled him to withdraw. Even at this 

 early date they were already noted among 

 the tribes for the golden wealth which 

 they had accumulated from the numerous 

 Spanish wrecks cast away upon the keys 

 in passage from the s., and two cen- 

 turies later they were regarded as Ver- 

 itable pirates, plundering and killing 

 without mercy the crews of all vessels, 

 excepting Spanish, so unfortunate as to be 

 stranded in their neighborhood. In 1567 

 the Spaniards established a mission and 

 fortified post among them, but both seem 

 to have been discontinued soon after, 

 although the tribe came later under Span- 

 ish influence. About this time, accord- 

 ing to Fontaneda, a captive among them, 

 they numbered nearly 50 villages, includ- 

 ing one occupied by the descendants of an 

 Arawakan colony (q. v. )from Cuba. From 

 one of these villages the modern Tampa 

 takes its name. Another, Muspa, existed 

 up to about 1750. About the year 1600 

 they carried on a regular trade, by canoe, 

 with Havana in fish, skins, and amber. 

 By the constant invasions of the Creeks 

 and other Indian allies of the English in 

 the 18th century they were at last driven 

 from the mainland and forced to take 

 refuge on the keys, particularly Key 

 West, Key Vaccas, and the Matacumbe 

 keys. One of their latest recorded ex- 

 ploits was the massacre of an entire 

 French crew wrecked upon the islands. 

 Romans states that in 1763, on the trans- 

 fer of Florida from Spain to England, 

 the last remnant of the tribe, numbering 

 then 80 families, or perhaps 350 souls, 

 was removed to Havana. This, however, 

 is only partially correct, as a considera- 

 ble band under the name of Muspa In- 

 dians, or simply Spanish Indians, main- 

 tained their distinct existence and lan- 

 guage in their ancient territory up to the 

 close of the second Seminole war. 



Nothing is known of the linguistic af- 



