SWANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 333 



them with drags; and that they were "grabbled" or caught with the 

 bare hands. Unfortunately, our data do not permit us to give the 

 geographical distribution of these devices though some of them 

 were, of course, dependent on the topography of specific sections. 

 References to fish in the De Soto narratives are almost confined to 

 the Apalachee country in northern Florida and the region of the 

 Mississippi. In the former there is said to have been good fishing 

 both near the sea (Bourne, 1904, vol. 2, p. 82) and in ponds (Gar- 

 cilaso, 1723, p. 107), and Garcilaso tells us that they fished 

 all the year round. Along the Mississippi, fish are often noted 

 among presents sent in by native chiefs, but they were found in 

 particular abundance in the canal leading from the Mississippi 

 past a town called Pacaha. Except for a rock fishweir reported 

 by Garcilaso's informants, used in Tampa Bay for catching rays, 

 only two methods of fishing are given in the De Soto documents, both 

 at Pacaha, by nets and fishhooks, though there is some doubt whether 

 in this instance the fishhooks were of native origin (Robertson, 1933, 

 p. 175; Garcilaso, 1723, pp. 94, 182). 



One of the most complete early descriptions of fishing is by Bev- 

 erley and may serve to introduce the subject : 



Before the arrival of the English there, the Indians had Fish in such vast 

 Plenty, that the Boys and Girls wou'd take a pointed Stick, and strike the 

 lesser sort, as they Swam upon the Flats. The larger Fish, that kept in 

 deeper water, they were put to a little more Difficulty to take; But for these 

 they made Weyrs ; that is, a Hedge of small riv'd Sticks, or Reeds, of the Thick- 

 ness of a Man's Finger, these they wove together in a Row, with Straps of 

 Green Oak, or other tough Wood, so close that the small Fish cou'd not pass 

 through. Upon High-Water Mark, they pitched one End of this Hedge, and 

 the other they extended into the River, to the Depth of Eight or Ten Foot, 

 fastening it with Stakes, making Cods [i. e., inner pockets] out from the Hedge 

 on one side, almost at the End, and leaving a Gap for the Fish to go into them, 

 which were contrived so that the Fish could easily find their Passage into those 

 Cods, when they were at the Gap, but not see their Way out again, when they 

 were in: Thus if they offered to pass through, they were taken. 



Sometimes they made such a Hedge as this, quite a-cross a Creek at High- 

 Water, and at Low wou'd go into the Run, so contracted into a narrow 

 Compass, and take out what Fish they pleased. 



At the Falls of the Rivers, where the Water is shallow, and the Current 

 strong, the Indians use another kind of Weir, thus made: They make a 

 Dam of loose Stone, whereof there is plenty at hand, quite a-cross the River, 

 leaving One, Two, or more Spaces or Tunnels, for the Water to pass thro' ; 

 at the Mouth of which they set a Pot of Reeds, wove in Form of a Cone, whose 

 Base is about Three Foot, and perpendicular Ten, into which the Swiftness 

 of the Current carries the Fish, and wedges them so fast, that they cannot 

 possibly return. 



The Indian Way of Catching Sturgeon, when they came into the narrow 

 part of the Rivers, was by a Man's clapping a Noose over their Tail, and 

 by keeping fast his hold. Thus a Fish finding it self intangled, wou'd fiounce, 

 and often pull him under Water, and then that Man was counted a Cockarouse, 



