80 SIOUAN TRIBES OF THE EAST. [ethnology 



The bones were then put into a box, from which they were taken out 

 annually to be again cleaned and oiled. In this way some families had 

 in their possession the bones of their ancestors for several generations. 

 Places where warriors had been killed were sometimes distinguished 

 by piles of stones, or sometimes of sticks, to which every passing Indian 

 added another (Lawson, 15). The custom of cleaning and preserving 

 the bones of the dead was common also to the Choctaw, Nanticoke, 

 and several other tribes. 



According to an old document the Santee in January, 1715, still had 

 two villages, 70 (?) miles north of Charleston, with 43 warriors (Rivers), 

 equal to about ICO souls. As nothing is heard of them later they prob- 

 ably were destroyed as a tribe by the Yamasi war, which broke out 

 soon after. 



Tlie Congaree lived on Santee and Congaree rivers, above and below 

 the junction of the Wateree, in central South Carolina. They had the 

 Santee tribe below them and the Wateree tribe above. Lawson found 

 them in 1701, apparently on the northeastern bank of the river below 

 the junction of the Wateree; but on a map of 1715 their village is indi- 

 cated on the southern bank of the Congaree and considerably above, 

 perhaps about Big Beaver creek, or about opposite the site of Columbia, 

 on the eastern boundary of Lexington county. A fort called by their 

 name was established near this village and about the present Columbia 

 in 1718, and accordiiig to Logan became an important trading station. 

 Lawson described their village in 1701 as consisting of only about a 

 dozen houses, located on a small creek flowing into Santee river. They 

 were then but a small tribe, having lost heavily by tribal feuds, but 

 more especially by smallpox, which had depopulated whole villages. 

 They were a friendly people, handsome and well built, the women being 

 especially beautiful. Although the several tribes were generally small 

 and lived closely adjoining one another, yet there was as great a differ- 

 ence in their features and disposition as in language, which was 

 usually different with each tribe (Lawson, IG). 



The Congaree, like their neighbors, took part in the Yamasi war 

 in 1715, as a result of which they were so reduced that they were 

 obliged to move up and join the Catawba, with whom they were living 

 in 1743, still preserving their distinct dialect (Adair, 8). 



The Wateree were first met by the Spaniards under Juan de Pardo 

 in 1507, and were described by La Vandera two years later under the 

 name of Guatari. The name is derived from the Catawba word icaterdn, 

 "to float in the water" (Gatschet). From the Spanish account they 

 were then living at a considerable distance from the coast and near the 

 Cherokee frontier. Tliey are described as being 15 or 16 leagues south- 

 east from "Otari-yati(pii," a misconception of an Indian term for an 

 interpreter of the Otari, Atali, or Mountain Cherokee. They were ruled 

 by two female chiefs, who held dignified conrt with a retinue of young 

 men and women as attendants (French, 2). 



