500 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



of silk ribbands, of various colors, which stream down on every side, 

 almost to the ground." He adds that these decorations were worn only 

 on special occasions, and in fact down to the present day Creek women 

 at the busk dances fasten numbers of ribbons to their heads and also to 

 their shoulders. Alabama women divided their hair in the middle, 

 carried the two parts back and tied them there by means of a string, 

 tape, or ribbon, sometimes beaded. This style of dressing the hair was 

 called li'ka' batcale'ii. Bossu, who observed this tribe in the middle 

 of the eighteenth century in its old home, said, though without con- 

 fining his remarks to them, "the female savages have long hair plaited 

 after the German fashion" (Bossu, 1768, vol. 2, pp. 7, 23). Speaking 

 especially of the Chickasaw, Adair remarks (1775, p. 170) that they 

 never forgot "to anoint and tie up their hair, except in their time of 

 mourning," and that persons of both sexes tied native stones in their 

 hair. Bushnell has illustrated one type of Choctaw feminine coiffure 

 which seems to be the same as that described for the Yuchi (Bushnell, 

 1909 a, p. 10, pi. 10 ; Speck, 1909, p. 22) . 

 Timberlake observed that : 



the Cherokee women wear the hair of their head, which is so long that it gen- 

 erally reaches to the middle of their legs, and sometimes to the ground, club'd, and 

 ornamented with ribbons of various colors ; but, except their eye-brows, pluck it 

 from all the other parts of the body, especially the looser part of the sex. (Tim- 

 berlake, Williams ed., 1927, pp. 75-77.) 



Of the Seminole of 30 years ago, MacCauley remarks : 



The women dress their hair more simply than the men. From a line crossing 

 the head from ear to ear the hair is gathered up and bound, just above the neck, 

 into a knot somewhat like that often made by the civilized woman, the Indian 

 woman's hair being wrought more into the shape of a cone, sometimes quite 

 elongated and sharp at the apex. A piece of bright ribbon is commonly used 

 at the end as a finish to the structure. The front hair hangs down over the 

 forehead and along the cheeks in front of the ears, being what we call "banged." 

 . . . Among the little Indian girls the hair is simply braided into a queue and 

 tied with a ribbon, as we often see the hair upon the heads of our school children. 

 (MacCauley, 1887, p. 487, and cf. Skinner, 1913, p. 67.) 



According to Du Pratz, Natchez women wore their hair at full 

 length "except that in front which is shorter. The hair behind is 

 tied in a queue by means of a netting of mulberry threads, with tassels 

 at the ends." (Le Page du Pratz, 1758, vol. 2, p. 195; Swanton, 1911, 

 p. 51.) Dumont de Montigny, who was considering the Indians of 

 the lower Mississippi more widely, states that the women wore their 

 hair 



either braided in tresses or bound into a queue with a string of . . . bison hair 

 . . . instead of a ribbon. These tresses are usually interlaced by way of orna- 

 ment with strings of blue, white, green, or black beads [made of glass], accord- 

 ing to their taste, sometimes also with quills of the porcupine. (Dumont, 1753, 

 vol. 1, p. 137; Swanton, 1911, p. 51.) 



