56 TRANSACTIONS OP THE 



Dr. MacCauley prefaced his paper with a statement of some 

 interesting facts he had found in taking a census of the Florida 

 Indians. Chief among them was the peculiarity of special moment 

 to the future of the tribe, that, while Seminole society is polyga- 

 mous, the number of males in it between five and twenty years of 

 age far exceeds that of the females less than twenty years old. 



In reference to the personal characteristics of this tribe of Indians 

 the speaker turned attention to their physique, their manner of 

 clothing themselves, their personal adornment, and their psychical 

 qualities, successively, giving ample description and copious illus- 

 tration to each part of his subject. 



The paper, of which it is difficult to make a proper abstract, 

 closed with the words : " Recalling, then, what I have recorded of 

 my observations of the personal characteristics of the Florida 

 Indians, they present themselves as a unique people, as a rule, su- 

 perior to a high degree in their physical development of form and 

 feature, novel and curious in their costume, and peculiar in the 

 ornamentation of their persons and clothing ; and, so far as per- 

 sonal characteristics distinctively psychical are concerned, as a 

 people, not only, as was hitherto acknowledged, brave in warfare, 

 and proud and independent in their relations with the white man, 

 but also well endowed with the gentler and more attractive personal 

 traits, amiability, truthfulness, frankness, and geniality in their in- 

 tercourse with those who have gained their confidence, and gifted 

 with comparative excellence of intellectual faculties and activity, 

 patience, and persistence in mental effort." 



At the conclusion of the paper Prof. Mason inquired whether the 

 well developed limbs described as characteristic of the Seminoles 

 might not in some cases be due to bandaging and other artificial 

 devices sometimes resorted to by savages. 



Dr. MacCauley replied that, as the children always go naked, 

 this was impossible ; and he was sure that no such practices pre- 

 vailed. In answer to further questions, he stated that the hole 



