SWANTON] HUNTING 241 
jump into the water and throw up all they had swallowed. Red 
willow (hahtok), the miko hoyanidja of the Creeks, was sometimes 
used for this purpose. Some Indians carried along a certain root 
with which to charm the game. It was used solely by hunters and 
bears an Indian name meaning “ deer tail.” The plant from which 
these roots come bears a white flower and grows in the territory of 
the old Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. The medicine was carried 
in a pocket or pouch on the right side, supported by a strap over 
the left shoulder. 
When they camped they laid their fire logs north and south and 
none of them was allowed to sit on the ends of these. Sometimes 
hunters took their families along to do the cooking, and in such cases 
the man got up long before day, awoke the rest, and would not allow 
any of them to lie down again, claiming it would spoil the luck 
if they did so. If there was a stump or prostrate log near the fire, 
no one could sit upon it. If the hunter were a good one and there 
happened to be plenty of game near his camp, he would frequently 
go to a distance after large deer, leaving the smaller ones about his 
camp to grow up. The large deer were more in demand for the 
manufacture of moccasins, leggings, and other articles of clothing. 
Trousers made from deer hides would not wear out, but they threw 
them away from time to time to replace them with new ones. When 
the soles of their moccasins wore out they replaced them with hog 
skin. At an earlier day it may be suspected that bison hide was used 
for this purpose. Adair and his contemporaries say practically 
nothing about the hunting of bison and the small number of refer- 
ences to this animal in the Gulf region during this period lends 
color to an assertion by Claiborne that they left the country early 
in the eighteenth century, owing to an excessive drought. Even in 
De Soto’s time, however, they do not appear to have been common, 
though the explorers obtained a “ cow-hide” from some place north 
of the Tennessee River and horns, undoubtedly those of bison, 
adorned the heads of warriors whom he encountered in the “ Prov- 
ince of Alibamo,” west of the Chickasaw country, while “shields of 
raw cow-hide” were found in a town just beyond the Mississippi 
River. 
The following data regarding bear hunting were written down 
for me by Zeno McCurtain from native informants: 
Bear hunters would wait until toward the middle of winter before starting 
out. When the bear hide it is usually in some cave, and experienced bear 
hunters were needed to find them. Before they set out they took medicines 
and fasted four days. Some hunters would also remain away from their wives. 
They had to provide themselves with torches, and when they set out they would 
seek the highest mountains. After they had found the bear cave, they selected 
certain persons to go inside with torches. When these saw the shining eyes of 
