SWANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTEiRN UNITED STATES 253 



Quivers and body armor were made of hide, but we can only guess 

 from what animals they were taken. Animal bones were also the 

 raw material for beads and arrow points, and powdered bone is said 

 to have been employed as tempering for pots. 



Besides the species of bird mentioned, many others were drawn 

 upon to feather arrows, to make splints to bind arrowheads to the 

 shaft, as wrist guards, on shields, as towels, and fans, though these 

 last seem usually to have been made of turkey feathers. Down from 

 bluebirds, herons, cardinals, and other birds was powdered over the 

 body after it had been covered with oil. Feathers were worn com- 

 paratively little by women. Bird bills were sometimes utilized as 

 arrow points, and with quills certain Indians traced designs on pot- 

 tery while it was being fired. Bird claws, besides those uses of them 

 above enumerated, were thrust through the ears by way of ornament. 

 A much more gruesome head ornament was the head of a dead enemy. 



Eggs were used as food, but there is singularly little mention of the 

 fact. In dressing skins, they sometimes used eggs and cornmeal in 

 a little water. 



The fin bones of various fish were employed to point spears, 

 arrows, and other weapons, and as needles. We are told several 

 times that fish scales, particularly the scales of the great brown spot- 

 ted gar, according to William Bartram, were used to point arrows; 

 and that also fish teeth were used for such purposes. It is not sur- 

 prising to find that fish were also used for glue. In Florida small 

 fish bladders, colored red, were worn in the ears. 



The shells of bivalves were employed as knives, in such occupations 

 as the hollowing out of a canoe or scraping a bow into shape. With 

 two such shells, the Virginians shaved off, or rather grated off, the 

 hair of one side of the head. In North Carolina there is mention 

 of arrow points made of shell, in one instance said to be oyster shell. 

 A shell was constantly used in shaping up the inside of a pot, and 

 crushed shell was a very common tempering material for pottery. 

 The ashes of shells and hot water are mentioned as a depilatory. 



THE DISTRIBUTIGN OF RAW MATERIALS 



If all raw materials utilized by the whole of the occupants of 

 any given territory were distributed in an absolutely even manner, 

 there would be little seasonal migration and little trade. It would 

 also be a matter of indifference where a family lived, and we might 

 suppose the population to be spread evenly over the land. The con- 

 trary is, of course, the case, and this unequal distribution of materials 

 determines in the first place the distribution of the population, and in 

 the second place, the amount and nature of their seasonal move- 

 ments and the extent and character of trade. 



