522 SEMINOLE INDIANS OF FLORIDA. 
path, which commenced at the place of the sun’s rising; that were he 
laid with the feet in any other direction he would not know when he rose 
what path to take and he would be lost in the darkness. He had with 
him his bow and arrow, that he might procure food on his way. The 
piece of burnt wood in his hand was to protect him from the “bad 
birds” while he was on his skyward journey. These “evil birds” are 
called Ta-lak-i-clak-o. The last rite paid to the Seminole dead is at 
the end of four moons. At that time the relatives go to the To-hop ki 
and cut from around it the overgrowing grass. A widow lives with 
disheveled hair for the first twelve moons of her widowhood. 
GREEN CORN DANCE. 
The one institution at present in which the religious beliefs of the 
Seminole find special expression is what is called the “ Green Corn 
Dance.” It is the occasion for an annual purification and rejoicing. I 
could get no satisfactory description of the festival. No white man, so 
I was told, has seen it, and the only Indian I met who could in any man- 
ner speak English made but an imperfect attempt to describe it. In 
fact, he seemed unwilling to talk about it. He told me, however, that 
as the season for holding the festival approaches the medicine men 
assemble and, through their ceremonies, decide when it shall take 
place, and, if I caught his meaning, determine also how long the dance 
shall continue. Others, on the contrary, told me that the dance is 
always continued for four days. j 
Fifteen days previous to the festival heralds are sent from the lodge 
of the medicine men to give notice to all the camps of the day when the 
dance will commence. Small sticks are thereupon hung up in each 
camp, representing the number of days between that date and the day 
of the beginning of the dance. With the passing of each day one of 
these sticks is thrown away. The day the last one is cast aside the fam- 
ilies go to the appointed place. At the dancing ground they find the 
selected space arranged as in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 77). 
The evening of the first day the ecremony of taking the “ Black 
Drink,” Pa-sa-is-kit-a, is endured. This drink was described to me as 
having both a nauseating smell and taste. It is probably a mixture 
similar to that used by the Creek in the last century at a like cere- 
mony. It acts as both an emetic aud a cathartic, and it is believed 
among the Indians that unless one drinks of it he will be sick at some 
time in the year, and besides that he cannot safely eat of the green corn 
of the feast. During the drinking the dance begins and proceeds; in 
it the medicine men join. 
At that time the Medicine Song is sung. My Indian would not re- 
peat this song for me. He declared that any one who sings the Medi- 
cine Song, except at the Green Corn Dance or as a medicine man, 
will certainly meet with some harm. That night, after the ‘“ Black 
Drink” has had its effect, the Indians sleep. The next morning they 

