SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTEiRN UNttTED STATES 469 



Owing to the subtropical heat and the great moisture of their swampy habi- 

 tat, the skin clothing is never worn except for some ceremony, although "Little 

 Billy" (Billy Koniphadjo) gave assurance that in his boyhood the Seminole 

 still wore leggings and moccasins at their daily tasks, discarding them eventu- 

 ally because they were "hot too much." He had no recollection of any upper 

 garment except the calico shirt. (Skinner, 1913, pp. 65-66.) 



Notes regarding Caddo clothing will be found in the Bureau of 

 American Ethnology Bulletin 132 (Swanton, 1942, pp. 140-148). 



CLOTHING OF WOMEN 



This subject is well introduced by the following quotation from 

 Adair : 



Although the same things are commonly alike used or disused by males and 

 females ; yet they distinguish their sexes in as exact a manner as any civilized 

 nation. (Adair, 1775, p. 171.) 



In place of the breechclout the women wore a short skirt extend- 

 ing from the waist almost to the knees. This is sometimes, but im- 

 properly, called "the women's breechclout." 



The Fidalgo of Elvas and Eanjel both describe the garments worn 

 by Indian women in southern Georgia in about the same terms. 

 The former says that they wore two garments made of native textile 

 material, "draping one around themselves from the waist down and 

 another over the shoulder with the right arm uncovered in the man- 

 ner and customs of gypsies." (Robertson, 1933, p. 76.) Ranjel almost 

 parallels the statement: 



They [i.e., the women] make very fine mantles, and they wear one from the 

 girdle down and another fastened on one side with the end over the shoulder 

 like those Bohemians, or gypsies, who wander sometimes through Spain. 

 (Bourne, 1904, vol. 2, p. 88.) 



There seems to be no other mention of the female costume in these 

 early narratives except by Garcilaso (1723, p. 18) in his general chap- 

 ter on Floridian customs: "The women dress in chamois [i. e., deer] 

 skin, having the whole body decently covered." From this it appears 

 that even in early times the women wore clothing of skins as well as 

 of woven materials. 



The women of Secotan are described by Hariot (1893, pi. 4 [pi. 66 of 

 this work] ) as wearing "a deer skinne verye excellelye dressed, hang- 

 inge downe from their nauell vnto the mydds of their thighes, which 

 also couereth their hynder parts," but apparently those of Pomeioc were 

 somewhat less well protected for they tied a "deers skinne doubled about 

 them crochinge hygher about their breasts, which hange downe before 

 almost to their knees, and are almost altogither naked behinde" 

 (Hariot, 1893, pi. 8 [pi. 65 of this work] ). From Smith and Strachey 

 we learn that a similar garment was worn by Virginia women. 



