344 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



swamps west of the Mississippi, one chronicler reports that "the Indi- 

 ans whom they took along in chains roiled the water with the mud 

 of the waters and the fish, as if stupefied would come to the surface, 

 and they caught as many as they wished" (Robertson, 1933, p. 188). 



Jackson Lewis told of another method of obtaining fish from sum- 

 mer pools. This was by the use of a drag constructed, something like 

 a fence, of two long crosspieces made of medium-sized logs fastened 

 end to end, the length being proportioned to the size of the pool, with 

 withes of hickory or other wood filling the space between. They 

 placed this across the pool at its lower end and dragged it upstream, 

 the structure preserving a vertical face to the water. If it caught on 

 the bottom someone would dive down to free it. Finally, they dragged 

 it into the shallower water at the upper end, and sometimes they 

 caught thousands of fish in this manner. This drag was a purely 

 temporary affair made for the occasion only and thrown away imme- 

 diately afterward. 



Simpson Tubby stated that his people, the Choctaw, usually pro- 

 hibited anyone from poisoning the pools, but used instead a drag 

 which must have been similar to that employed by the Creeks. It was 

 "made of brush fastened together with creepers." When the water was 

 deep, ponies and oxen were secured to the drag at intervals and men 

 sat upon it to keep it down." In this way they caught trout, jacks, 

 perch, suckers, and sometimes catfish. Eufaubee and Nanih Waiya 

 Creeks were particularly noted for their supplies of fish. 



Lawson observed the following method in use in Carolina in secur- 

 ing crawfish: 



Their taking of crawfish is so pleasant, that I cannot pass it by without men- 

 tion ; when they have a mind to get these shell fish, they take a piece of venison 

 and half barbecue or roast it, then they cut it into thin slices, which slices they 

 stick through with reeds about six inches asunder betwixt piece and piece ; then 

 the reeds are made sharp at one end ; and so they stick a great many of them 

 down in the bottom of the water, thus baited, in the small brooks and runs, which 

 the crawfish frequent. Thus the Indians sit by and tend these baited sticks, 

 every now and then taking them up to see how many are at the bait ; where they 

 generally find abundance, so take them off and put them in a basket for the 

 purpose, and stick the reeds down again. By this method, they will, in a little 

 time, catch several bushels, which are as good as any I ever eat. (Lawson, 1860, 

 pp. 339-340.) 



DOMESTICATION OF ANIMALS 

 PRE-COLUMBIAN DOMESTICATION 



The only domestic animal of universal occurrence was the dog, 

 but it was of very little economic importance. In this area there is 

 no mention of dogs as beasts of burden, that function having been 

 the prerogative of women until the introduction of horses, though 



