SWANTON] INDIANS OP THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 247 



the roots; and according to still others, the small branches. Nuts of 

 the red buckeye (Aesculics pa/via) were used as eyes in the deer decoy. 



The wild peach was one source of red dye, and skins to be tanned 

 were sometimes soaked in an infusion of the bark of this tree. 



Bows and arrow shafts in Virginia were of witch-hazel. 



Dogwood was an occasional source of material for baskets and 

 bows, and "red dogwood" was used for arrow shafts. 



Arrow shafts were also made of the black haw. 



Ironwood was sometimes employed for bows. 



Natchez bows, according to Du Pratz, were of "acacia," but he 

 probably means by this the black locust. 



The hackberry was sometimes used in baskets. 



Chinquapin nuts were occasionally strung as beads. 



The material of which thread, fish nets, and fish lines were made 

 is frequently referred to as "silkgrass," a name which probably 

 covered several different plants, including some of the following, 

 which have been identified in materials from the Southeast by A. C. 

 Whitford: Indian hemp {Apocynum cannabinum) ^ stingless nettle 

 (Boehmeria cylmdrica)^ woods nettle {Laportea canadensis)^ and 

 slender nettle {TJrtica gracilis). Sometimes "a nettle" is definitely 

 mentioned. 



Yucca fiber was used for cord in the western part of the area and 

 an Arkansas specimen in the Museum of the American Indian was 

 identified by Whitford as Yucca arkansana. 



From rushes and flags were made mats, house coverings, and bed 

 coverings, particularly in the northeast. A mat in the United States 

 National Museum is made of the cattail flag {Typha latifolia), 



Spanish moss was used as clothing in the southern sections, par- 

 ticularly by the women and girls, and the pillow employed along 

 the Mississippi in flattening the heads of infants was often stuffed 

 with it. It was also employed as tinder, especially in supplying the 

 tinder for fire arrows. Whitford has identified two cords from the 

 Koasati Indians in the collections of the Museum of the American 

 Indian as of this material (Tillandsiu icsneoides). 



Grass was used sometimes for clothing and, mixed with clay, was 

 commonly used in constructing the walls and roofs of houses. In 

 the west, bundles of grass formed the sole thatch of houses. 



Milkweed of the species Asclepias syriaca^ tuberosa^ and pulchra 

 has been identified in textiles from the Southeast by Whitford, in 

 places as wide apart as the Cherokee country, the Machapunga of 

 eastern North Carolina, and Arkansas. Milkweed also figured ex- 

 tensively in remedies. It is a plant of European origin. 



The devil's shoestring was employed as a fish poison. 



Another fish poison was obtained from the berries of the Gocculus 

 carolinus. 



