MACCAULEY. ] ORNAMENTS. 489 
I noticed bits of palmetto wood, about a fifth of an inch in length and 
in diameter the size of a large pin. Seemingly they were not placed 
there to remain only while the puncture was healing. (Fig. 65.) 
Piercing the ears excepted, the Florida Indians do not now mutilate 
their bodies for beauty’s sake. They no longer pierce the lips or the 
nose; nor do they use paint upon their persons, I am told, except at 
their great annual festival, the Green Corn Dance, and upon the faces of 
their dead. 
FINGER RINGS. 
Nor is the wearing of finger rings more common than that of rings 
for theears. The finger rings I saw were all made of silver and showed 
good workmanship. Most of them were made with large elliptical tab- 
lets on them, extending from knuckle to knuckle. These also were 
home-made. 
SILVER VS. GOLD. 
Isaw no gold ornaments. Gold, even gold money, does not seem to be 
considered of much value by the Seminole. He is a monometalist, and 
his precious metal is silver. I was told by aecattle dealer of an Indian 
who once gave him a twenty dollar gold piece for $17 in silver, although 
assured that the gold piece was worth more than the silver, and in my 
own intercourse with the Seminole I found them to manifest, with few 
exceptions, a decided preference for silver. I was told that the Semi- 
nole are peculiar in wishing to possess nothing that is not genuine of 
its apparent kind. Traders told me that, so far as the Indians know, 
they will buy of them only what is the best either of food or of material 
for wear or ornament. 
CRESCENTS, WRISTLETS, AND BELTS, 
The ornaments worn by the men which are most worthy of attention 
are crescents, varying in size and value. These are generally about 
five inches long, an inch in width at the widest part, and of the thick- 
ness of ordinary tin. These articles are also made from silver coins 
and are of home manufacture. They are worn suspended from the neck 
by cords, in the cusps of the crescents, one below another, at distances 
apart of perhaps two and a half inches. Silver wristlets are used by 
the men for their adornment. They are fastened about the wrists by 
cords or thongs passing through holes in the ends of the metal. Belts, 
and turbans too, are often ornamented with fanciful devices wrought 
out of silver. It is not customary for the Indian men to wear these 
ornaments in everyday camp life. They appear with them on a fes- 
tival occasion or when they visit some trading post. 
7 ME-LE. 
A sketch made by Lieutenant Brown, of Saint Francis Barracks, 
Saint Augustine, Florida, who accompanied me on my trip to the Cat 
