256 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHZNTOLOGT [Bull. 137 



fat eels are found in the rivers, some of them as large as a man's thigh, and enor- 

 mous trout, almost as large as a man's body ; although smaller ones are also 

 found. The natives eat lizards, snakes, and rats, which infest the lakes, fresh- 

 water turtles, and many other animals which it would be tiresome to enumerate. 

 They live in a country covered with swamps and cut up by high bluffs. (Swan- 

 ton, 1922, p. 388. ) 



In central and western Texas, territories which rather frame the 

 Southeastern cultural province than belong to it, horticulture was also 

 absent — except it is said in the case of the Aranama and one or two 

 related tribes — but seasonal migrations were obligatory, particularly 

 as respects the inland Indians, who changed their abodes to conform 

 to the movement of the herds of bison and the availability of the tuna 

 and other food plants. Those on the coast were kept there for con- 

 siderable periods by the supplies of fish, but they also hunted inland 

 at certain seasons and collected seeds of plants out of which they made 

 a kind of bread. 



Throughout the rest of the Southeast — except perhaps for a few 

 bands living near the larger tribes, who are said to have specialized on 

 hunting — corn, beans, pumpkins, and a few other vegetables were 

 raised, and the fields where these grew usually determined the sites of 

 the towns. This was because they required labor and protection and 

 because most of the crop was stored for later consumption. Dried 

 meat was also stored there, but it was never possible to tell where 

 game animals were to be found, while the location of the field was 

 definite. This, of course, meant that the people were generally in 

 or near their villages in summer. They had to return to them in 

 spring to plant, and a certain amount of cultivation was also necessary 

 during the growing season, though the Indians did not worry them- 

 selves on this point as much as our farmers. However, it was also 

 necessary to have someone watch the fields during the sprouting season 

 to keep the ubiquitous crow and other birds in check. Between plant- 

 ing and harvest they did, however, often get time for a shorter hunt. 

 After harvest they would remain in town until well toward winter to 

 enjoy the produce of their fields and thus place it beyond the reach 

 of human or animal depredation. This determined the period when 

 the greatest feasts and ceremonies were held, the people being to- 

 gether and the maximum amount of food being available. The time 

 of plenty was usually inaugurated by a special ceremony known to 

 English-speaking people popularly as "the green corn dance," though 

 it might be more accurately defined as a feast of first fruits, the cere- 

 mony being intended to insure continued supplies of plant and animal 

 food during the ensuing year and along with them the health and 

 prosperity of the partakers. 



As the harvest was seldom sufficient to last — nor was it expected 

 to last — until another crop came in, the Indians were obliged to seek 



