THE NORTHWESTERN FLORIDA COAST REVISITED. 
By CLARENCE B. Moore. 
INTRODUCTION. 
The end of our work along Green river, Kentucky, in 1916, virtually com- 
pleted for us the list of all rivers navigable by our steamer, and at the same time 
not likely to be affected by ice in winter (in summer cultivation bars effective 
search), to be found in southeastern United States. In addition, all the coast of 
the same region, navigable to us, had been carefully investigated by our expedi- 
tions extending over a period of about twenty-seven seasons. ! 
One river, the Choctawhatchee, in Alabama and northwestern Florida, opened 
to navigation since our latest visit to the region drained by it, by the removal of a 
bar at its mouth and by the uprooting of a multitude of snags from its bed, re- 
mained uninvestigated, and this stream we determined to search, and, in addition, 
for the second? time carefully to cover the northwestern Florida coast, impelled 
thereto by reasons which we shall proceed to explain. 
It may be well to say here, to any not familiar with the archaeology of Florida, 
that it was an aboriginal custom there often practised, to “КШ” a vessel to be 
interred with the dead, by breaking a hole in its base, thus freeing its soul’ to 
accompany that of its owner to the life beyond. 
Doubtless some of the more thrifty among the aborigines regretted this 
1 Two additional seasons of exploration detailed in this report bring the total to twenty-nine. 
2 As to our first visit (1901 and 1902) consult “Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Northwest 
Florida Coast, Parts I and П.” Journ. Асар. Nar. Scr. PHILA., vols. XI and XII. 
i 3 We are indebted to Col. G. E. Laidlaw for the following references as to the Eskimo, which are 
interesting for comparison. 
Geological Survey, Ottawa, Canada, Memoir 91, Number 14, Anthropological Series. “The 
Labrador Eskimo,” by E. W. Hawkes. 
“The small specimen [a stone kettle], which came from an old grave, has two holes bored in the 
bottom. All lamps and kettles placed on graves were treated in like manner, to liberate the inua of 
the utensil and allow its use by the shade of the owner, in the other world.” Page 90. 
“On top of the grave are laid the effects of the deceased, . . . All the effects of the deceased are 
broken to liberate the spirit residing there, so that it may be useful to the shade of the owner. The 
. clothes are torn; the dishes split; and holes bored in the soapstone lamps and kettles.” Page 120. 
“The Eskimo believe that not only all animals but also any prominent physiographical feature, 
such as a rock, point, cove, or mountain, is inhabited by a spiritual counterpart, the inua, the genius 
or thinking spirit of the object or spot. This is the third person possessive form of inuk, man, and 
means literally ‘its man,’ which perhaps expresses the idea as well as it can be explained.” Page 127. 
It may be worth while also to cite here one of the many accounts of mortuary mutilation of 
objects placed with the dead in Africa. ee 
The Ekoi of Western Africa erect little funeral shrines over the graves of persons of distinction. 
“Round these are scattered various pieces of property, such as plates, dishes, etc., all broken. . . . 
“The things scattered round are broken so that their astral forms may be set free, to be borne 
by the shade of their owner into the spirit world." “In the Shadow of the Bush," P. Amaury Talbot, : 
London, 1912, page 6 et seq, 
