SwANTON] INIDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 441 



Those ["conies"] that we haue seen & al that we can heare of are of a grey- 

 colour like vnto hares: in some places there are such plentie that all the 

 people of some townes make them mantles of the furre or flue of the skinnes 

 of those they vsually take. (Hariot, 1893, p. 30.) 



Later he speaks of "a shorte clocke made of fine hares skinnes 

 quilted with the hayre outward" worn by native priests (Hariot, 

 1893, pi. 5). While it is probable that rabbit skins were worn much 

 more widely, evidence of the fact seems to be lacking. 



One would expect the beaver to have been an important source 

 of clothing, and we at least learn that it was used widely. Smith 

 and Strachey mention such use in Virginia, and Lawson in the 

 Piedmont section of the Carolinas, and there are references to beaver- 

 skin garments among the Chickasaw and the Indians of the lower 

 Mississippi. There is even one reference to the employment of beaver 

 hair in textiles. (Garcia, 1902, pp. 309-310; Swanton, 1922, p. 149; 

 Leonard, 1939.) 



Smith and Strachey refer to the use of otter skins, at least as or- 

 naments, and Beverley states that a Virginia conjurer often hung an 

 otter skin between his legs. As otters were connected with sha- 

 manism in many parts of North America, this use was natural enough 

 and may have extended widely. 



Lawson mentions "match coats" of raccoon hide among the Caro- 

 lina Indians and Catesby affirms that raccoon hair was employed 

 in textiles, though he may have confounded this animal with the 

 opossum (Lawson, 1860, p. 311 ; Catesby, 1731-43, vol. 2, p. xi) . Vir- 

 ginia Indians sometimes thrust the claws of a bear, raccoon or squirrel 

 through their ears by way of ornament (Strachey, 1849, p. 67). 



Lawson (1860, p. 311) also speaks of clothing made of squirrel 

 skins, but though squirrels were widely hunted as accessories to the 

 table, and their pelts were worked into bowstrings, I find no other 

 reference to their employment in clothing. Mention of the use 

 of their claws as ornaments has just been made. 



While opossum skins do not appear to have been used at all, opos- 

 sum hair was widely resorted to as a textile. 



Virginia priests ornamented their ears with weasel skins (Smith, 

 John, 1907 ed., p. 51; Strachey, 1849, p. 91). 



Cloaks made of the feathers of various kinds of birds are con- 

 stantly mentioned in all parts of the Southeast. Turkey feathers 

 appear to have been used most often, but Lawson (1860, p. 311) 

 tells of a garment composed of the heads of mallards, and Bev- 

 erley (1705, bk. 3, p. 3) of pheasant feathers in the headdress of Vir- 

 ginia Indians. 



Use of eagle feathers was, of course, universal, and our Virginia 

 authorities speak of the whole skin of a hawk stuffed and buzzard 



