SwANax)N] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 523 



Indians, are illustrated by Speck (1909, p. 51). Fifty years ago 

 MacCauley found few finger rings among the Florida Seminole. All 

 he did see were made of silver and showed good workmanship. 



Most of them were made with large elliptical tablets on them, extending from 

 knuckle to knuckle. These also were home made. (MacCauley, 1887, p. 489.) 



LEG ORNAMENTS 



Most Southeastern Indians wore leggings at times, and beaded 

 garters, made of bison hair, opossum hair, or other material, were 

 constant accompaniments of these. Beaded strings were worn by 

 Chickasaw women in the same place, though their functions were 

 ornamental and magical (see p. 449). 



Strings of beads seem sometimes to have been worn by men even 

 without their leggings. The only case of the kind in Virginia and 

 the Carolinas is the ornamentation indicated by 'White on the "Idol 

 Kiwasa" (Hariot, 1893, pi. 21). (See pi. 92 herein.) Le Moyne shows 

 strings of beads and strings of copper disks worn in this place by Flor- 

 idians of both sexes, without leggings or other clothing under them. In 

 one case he shows a string of beads worn just above the knee, and in two 

 or three cases men and women appear wearing true anklets. These 

 anklets never consist of metal plates, perhaps because they would 

 have interfered too much in walking. As has always been said, we 

 must not place too much reliance on Le Moyne's illustrations, but 

 in the latitude of Florida, where much of the clothing could be 

 dispensed with, there were correspondingly more opportunities for 

 ornamentation of both arms and legs. 



We may add here the testimony of San Miguel, who describes Don 

 Luis, the Calusa — or possibly, Tekesta — chief as coming to meet his 

 party with his body adorned with strings of beads of four or six 

 fingers in breadth "hung about his neck, his biceps, his wrists, under 

 his knees, above his ankle bones, and on his ankles" (Garcia, 1902, 

 p. 210). He obserA^ed similar ornaments in use among the Guale 

 Indians (Garcia, 1902. p. 194). 



The only ornaments in any way resembling anklets described 

 among the tribes farther west were the terrapin shells containing 

 pebbles which Creek women and women of many other nations 

 adopted during the dances. 



ORNAMENTATION OF BELTS AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CLOTHING 



The belt was very frequently made to combine decorative with 

 utilitarian functions like the head band or necklace. Le Moyne 

 (1875, p. 14) indicates what looks like a bead or pearl belt worn for 

 purely ornamental purposes, and he both illustrates and mentions 



