\ 
GREEN CORN DANCE. 227 
marry with them, the same traits of character being observ 
able. > 
The Seminoles (under Wild Cat, of Florida-war memory) 
live on the Rio Grande. The Choctaws and Chickasaws 
have been already described, and the Creeks live on a 
Reserve bounded on the north by the south shore of the 
Arkansas. 
Conner described to me the Creek green corn dance and 
feast, which he said is a religious ceremony with them. As 
soon as the corn is edible, the different villages assemble, and 
after some preliminary ceremonies, begin to swallow large 
quantities of a decoction of a species of lobelia, called among 
them the “ Devil’s shoe-string.” This brings on violent 
vomiting and purging, until the whole stomach and bowels 
are cleansed, when they proceed to gorge themselves with 
green corn to satiety, and the quantity consumed is according 
to him enormous. They then sleep, and afterwards com- 
mence the green corn dance, which lasts until all are worn 
down with fatigue; a singular custom and one scarcely to be 
imagined even among savages. 
These six tribes all live in houses, and cultivate the soil to 
a greater or less extent, in a majority of cases barely suffi- 
ciently 80 for a support. 
The Caddos, Ionies and Ah-nan-dah-kas, numbered about 
seven hundred and fifty warriors, women and ehildren ; speak 
the same language and intermarry. They have a tradition 
that they issued from the hot springs of Arkansas, and from 
