346 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOCY [Bdll. 137 



their cabans instead of Dogs" (Bassett, 1901, p. 130), but this must 

 stand by itself. 



Peter Martyr reports, on the supposed authority of an Indian 

 from the region now covered by South Carolina, that the aborigines 

 of that country tamed deer, and kept hens, ducks, geese, and other 

 domestic fowl, and De Soto in his letter to the civil cabildo of 

 Santiago de Cuba informs them that the Indians of Ocale tamed 

 deer and turkeys. (Anghierra, 1912, vol. 2, pp. 259-260; Swanton, 

 1922, p. 42; Bourne, 1904, vol. 2, p. 162; Kobertson, 1938, p. 176.) 

 These plainly represent misunderstandings or misrepresentations. 

 Strachey (1849, p. 26) speaks of a people, apparently in what is now 

 North Carolina, who bred up "tame turkeis about their howses," 

 but as he adds that they "take apes in the mount aines," we can 

 hardly credit this any more than the tales of Peter Martyr and 

 De Soto's informant. A Chitimacha slave of Du Pratz told him that 

 her people raised turkeys, but this was some time after hens had 

 been introduced among them and they may well have been obtained 

 from the French. (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol. 2, pp. 125-126; 

 Swanton, 1911, p. 73.) The only information on this point which 

 seems to be first hand is that of Lawson, who asserts that the Siouan 

 Indians hatched the eggs of wild turkeys and used the young ones 

 as decoys, though their ability to make a successful hatch of wild 

 turkey eggs appears more than doubtful. 



AVhat the same writer says regarding tame cranes is more credible : 



These Congarees have abundance of storks and cranes in their savannas. 

 Thtey take them before they can fly, and breed them as tame and familiar 

 as a dunghill fowl. They had a tame crane at one of these cabins, that was 

 scarcely less than six feet in heighth. His head being round, with a shining, 

 natural crimson hue, which they all have. (Lawson, 1860, pp. 53-54, 245.) 



In northern Florida, a Timucua chief presented one of the lieuten- 

 ants of Laudonniere with two young eagles. 



These notes are all that our literature affords on this subject, and 

 it is evident that taming of animals other than the dog was sporadic 

 and without special significance. 



HORSES 



The first acquaintance of the Southeastern Indians with horses was 

 with those brought by Ayllon in 1526, Narvaez in 1528, and particu- 

 larly De Soto and Moscoso, 1539-43. The Indians were terrified by 

 them, and to his possession of these animals De Soto owed his suc- 

 cess in penetrating the Gulf region for such long distances. Ranjel 

 says that the people of Mabila "held horses in the greatest terror" 

 (Bourne, 1904, vol. 2, p. 122) and promptly killed all that fell into 

 their hands. In the surprise attack on the Chickasaw town in which 



