242 BUREiAU OF AME'RICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



eastern tongues, especially those of the Muskhogean group, and this 

 is particularly true of the Catawba, which apparently occupied an 

 intermediate position. Therefore, it is probable that, though the 

 Siouan peoples were marginal to those of the area we are discussing, 

 they are of considerable importance in any broad study of it. 



A curious people with a unique language, somewhat after the struc- 

 tural pattern of Muskhogean and Siouan, were the Yuchi. Only one 

 dialect is known, but it is evident that there were once several distinct 

 tribes with a considerable total population. Their home was also 

 north of the Gulf area, and they, too, may have made their way down 

 from the region of the present Middle West. When we first hear of 

 them they were in the mountainous country of eastern Tennessee north 

 of the river of that name, near Muscle Shoals, and on the Cumberland. 

 It was only after the Spaniards had established themselves at St. 

 Augustine that bands of Yuchi began to enter the Gulf region, pushed 

 on, it would seem, by the Iroquoian tribes. (Swanton, 1922; Speck, 

 1909 ; Wagner, 1931.) (But see remarks on p. 213.) 



The Algonquians, finally, belong clearly to a different culture 

 center. They had contacts with the Southeast at two points. One 

 of these was through the Shawnee Indians, who probably made their 

 presence felt at a very late date. They had evidently reached the 

 Cumberland only a few years before Europeans came in contact with 

 them. A part of them soon made a settlement on Savannah River, 

 giving their name to the stream, and from this time until the open- 

 ing of the nineteenth century, they had one or more settlements in 

 the Creek Nation, where they became close friends in particular of 

 the Tukabahchee Creeks. 



The other point of contact was at the northeastern corner of the 

 area we are considering where the southern extension of a series of 

 Algonquian tribes which fringed the Atlantic coast came as far south 

 as the mouth of the Neuse River. Whether this represents a late in- 

 trusion or was a condition long established we do not know, but the 

 former opinion is the one generally held. 



The distribution of the remaining cultural elements cannot be 

 given until after a careful study and recapitulation, to which I will 

 now address myself. 



RAW MATERIALS UTILIZED BY THE SOUTHEASTERN INDIANS 



The following enumeration of such materials is drawn from the 

 printed sources mainly and does not profess to be absolutely complete. 

 The authorities for the data here given will appear in later chapters. 



MINERAL KINGDOM 



The only mineral substance widely utilized as food was salt, ob- 

 tained sometimes from the ocean, but oftener from salt licks. There 



