234 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



I have beep led to the conclusion that for Indians they have attained a relatively 

 high degree of psychical development. They are an uncivilized, I hardly like to 

 call them a savage, people. They are antagonistic to white men, as a race, and to 

 the white man's culture, but they have characteristics of their own, many of which 

 are commendable. They are decided in their enmity to any representative of the 

 white man's government and to every thing which bears upon it the govern- 

 ment's mark. To one, however, who is acquainted with recent history this 

 enmity is but natural, and a confessed representative of the government need 

 not be surprised at finding in the Seminole only forbidding and unlovely 

 qualities. But when suspicion is disarmed, one whom they have welcomed 

 to their confidence will find them evincing characteristics which will excite 

 his admiration and esteem. I was fortunate enough to be introduced to the 

 Seminole, not as a representative of our National Government, but under 

 conditions which induced them to welcome me as a friend. In my inter- 

 course with them, I found them to be not only the brave, self reliant, proud 

 people who have from time to time withstood our nation's armies in defense 

 of their rights, but also a people amiable, affectionate, truthful, and commu- 

 nicative. Nor are they devoid of a sense of humor. With only few exceptions, 

 I found them genial. . . I call the Seminole communicative because most with 

 whom I spoke were eager to talk, and, as far as they could with the imper- 

 fect means at their disposal, to give me the information I sought. 'Doctor 

 Na-ki-ta', (Doctor What-is-it) I was playfully named at the Cat Fish Lake 

 settlement; yet the people there were seemingly as ready to try to answer as 

 I was to ask, "What is it?" I said they are truthful. That is their reputa- 

 tion with many of the white men I met, and I have reason to believe that 

 the reputation is under ordinary circumstances well founded. They answered 

 promptly and without equivocation "No" or "Yes" or "I don't know." And 

 they are affectionate to one another, and so far as I saw, amiable in their 

 domestic and social intercourse. Parental affection is characteristic of their 

 home life, as several illustrative instances I might mention would show. . . . 

 I have said also that the Seminole are frank. Formal or hypocritical courtesy 

 does not characterize them. . . . They seem to be mentally active. When the 

 full expression of any of my questions failed, a substantive or two, an adverb, 

 and a little pantomime generally sufliced to convey the meaning to my 

 hearers. In their intercourse with one another, they are, as a rule, voluble, 

 vivacious, showing the possession of relatively active brains and mental fer- 

 tility. Certainly, most of the Seminole I met cannot justly be called either 

 stupid or intellectually sluggish, and I observed that, when invited to think 

 of matters with which they are not familiar or which are beyond the verge 

 of the domain which their intellectual faculties have mastered, they neverthe- 

 less bravely endeavored to satisfy me before they were willing to acknow- 

 ledge themselves powerless. They would not at once answer a misunder- 

 stood or unintelligible question, but would return inquiry upon inquiry, be- 

 fore the decided "I don't know" was uttered. Those with whom I particularly 

 dealt with were exceptionally patient under the strains to which I put their minds. 

 (MacCauley, 1887, pp. 490-493.) 



Lawson discusses the character of the Indians of his acquaintance 

 in two places ; after describing the kindness they showed to one another 

 in time of misfortune, he continues : 



They never fight with one another unless drunk, nor do you ever hear any 

 scolding amongst them. They say the Europeans are always rangling and 

 uneasy, and wonder they do not go out of this world, since they are so un- 



