SWANTONJ INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 527 



by reason of the nastiness of their Cabbins, they would be very much infested 

 with. 



Smith talks of this Puccoon, as if it grew on the Mountains, whereas it is 

 common to all the Plantations of the English, except only to those situated in 

 very low Grounds. (Beverley, 1705, bk. 3, p. 52.) 



Lawson gives us a very naive account of the use of bear's grease 

 and red hair dye among the Piedmont tribes of the Carolinas: 



[The color of the Indians] is of a tawny, which would not be so dark did 

 they not dawb themselves with bear's oil, and a color like burnt cork. This is 

 begun in their infancy and continued for a long time, which fills the pores and 

 enables them better to endure the extremity of the weather. They are never 

 bald on their heads, although never so old, which, I believe, proceeds from their 

 heads being always uncovered, and the greasing their hair so often as they do, 

 with bear's fat, which is a great nourisher of the hair, and causes it to grow 

 very fast. Amongst the bear's oil, when they intend to be fine, they mix a 

 certain red powder, that comes from a scarlet root which they get in the hilly 

 country, near the foot of the great ridge of mountains, and it is no where else 

 to be found. They have this scarlet root in great esteem, and sell it for a very 

 great price one to anoUier. The reason of its value is, because they not only 

 go a long way for it but are in great danger of the Sinnagers or Iroquois, who 

 are mortal enemies to all our Indians, and very often take them captives or 

 kill them before they return from this voyage. The Tuskeruros and other 

 Indians have often brought this seed with them from the mountains ; but it 

 would never grow in our land. With this and bear's grease they anoint their 

 heads and temples, which is esteemed as ornamental, as sweet powder to our 

 hair. Besides, this root has the virtue of killing lice, and suffers none to abide 

 or breed in their heads. For want of this root, they sometimes use pecoon root, 

 which is of a crimson color, but it is apt to die the hair of an ugly hue. (Law- 

 son, 1860, p. 281 ; also see Cate«by, 1731-43, vol. 2, p. ix.) 



In preparation for a war expedition they did their hair over very 

 much with bear's grease and this red dye (Lawson, 1860, p. 313). 



They can color their hair black, though some times it is reddish, which they 

 do with the seed of a flower that grows commonly in their plantations. I believe 

 this would change the reddest hair into perfect black. (Lawson, 1860, p. 358.) 



The Timucua Indians of Florida kept their bodies covered with 

 bear grease, to which Laudonniere assigns some ceremonial function 

 and also considers a means of protection from the sun's heat (Laudon- 

 niere, 1586, p. 12 ; S wanton, 1922, p. 352) . 



In his later paper on the southern Indians, in which he has refer- 

 ence particularly to the Cherokee and Creeks, Bartram says : 



There is one remarkable circumstance respecting the hair of the head of the 

 Indians, which I do not know to have been observed by travellers or historians. 

 Besides the lankness, extraordinary natural length, and perhaps coarseness of 

 the hair of the head, it is of a shining black or brown color, showing the same 

 splendor and changeableness at different exposures to the light. The traders 

 informed me that they preserved its perfect blackness and splendor by the use 

 of the red farinaceous or fursy covering of the berries of the common sumach 

 {Rhus glabra) . Over night they rub this red iwwder in their hair, as much as it 

 wiU contain, tying it up close with a handkerchief till morning, when they 



