~~ = 
MACCAULEY.] POPULATION. 479 
In this table it will be noticed that the total population consists of 112 
males and 96 females, an excess of males over females of 16. This excess 
appears in each of the settlements, excepting that of Fish Eating Creek, a 
fact the more noteworthy, from its relation to the future of the tribe, since 
polygamous, or certainly duogamous, marriage generally prevails as a 
tribal custom, at least at the Miami River and the Cat Fish Lake settle- 
ments. It will also be observed that between twenty and sixty years of 
age, or the ordinary range of married life, there are 38 men and 46 women; 
or, if the women above fifteen years of age are included as wives for the 
men over twenty years of age, there are 38 men and 56 women. Now, 
almost all these 66 women are the wives of the 38 men. Notice, how- 
ever, the manner in which the children of these people are separated in 
sex. At present there are, under twenty years of age, 66 boys, and, 
under fifteen years of age, but 31 girls; or, setting aside the 12 boys who 
are under five years of age, there are, as future possible husbands and 
wives, 54 boys between five and twenty years of age and 31 girls under 
fifteen years of age—an excess of 23 boys. For a polygamous society) 
this excess in the number of the male sex certainly presents a puzzling 
problem. The statement I had from some cattiemen in mid-Florida I 
have thus found true, namely, that the Seminole are producing more 
men than women. What bearing this peculiarity will have upon the 
future of these Indians can only be guessed at. It is beyond question, 
however, that the tribe is increasing in numbers, and increasing in the 
manner above described. 
There is no reason why the tribe should not increase, and increase 
rapidly, if the growth in numbers be not checked by the non-birth 
of females. The Seminole have not been at war for more than twenty 
years. Their numbers are not affected by the attacks of wild ani- 
mals or noxious reptiles. They are not subject to devastating diseases. 
But once during the last twenty years, as far as I could learn, has 
anything like an epidemic afflicted them. Besides, at all the settle- 
ments except the northernmost, the one at Cat Fish Lake, there is an 
abundance of food, both animal and vegetable, easily obtained and easily 
prepared for eating. The climate in which these Indians live is warm 
and equable throughout the year. They consequently do not need 
much clothing or shelter. They are not what would be called in- 
temperate, nor are they licentious. The “sprees” in which they indulge 
when they make their visits to the white man’s settlements are too in- 
frequent to warrant us in classing them as intemperate. Their sexnal 
morality is a matter of common notoriety. The white half-breed does 
not exist among the Florida Seminole, and nowhere could [ learn that 
the Seminole woman is other than virtuous and modest. The birth of 
a white half-breed would be followed by the death of the Indian mother 
at the hands of her own people. The only persons of mixed breed 
among them are children of Indian fathers by negresses who have 
been adopted into the tribe. Thus health, climate, food, and personal 
