SwANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 583 



sixth and last pair of human figures at the door of the temple of 

 Talomeco held in their hands "very large and handsome pikes with 

 copper heads" (Garcilaso, 1723, p. 131). Similar pikes were found 

 in one of the storehouses nearby although Garcilaso seems to say 

 here that they were pointed with brass instead of copper. How- 

 ever, if they were of native manufacture they could only have been 

 of copper. These were ornamented with rings of pearls (Garcilaso, 

 1723, p. 133). Nothing is said, however, about the use of such 

 implements in war until we come to the province of Tula in south- 

 western Arkansas. The people there, who were quite different from 

 all their neighbors to the eastward and almost certainly belonged to 

 the Caddoan stock, resisted the Spaniards savagely and used "large, 

 long poles, like lances, the ends hardened by "fire" (Bourne, 1904, 

 vol., 2, p. 148). Elvas calls them "long poles resembling pikes" 

 (Robertson, 1933, p. 196). Garcilaso (1723, p. 191) describes these 

 as "clubs two or three varas long," which would mean a different 

 sort of weapon. Garcilaso's words might also lead one to suppose 

 that this was a temporary device adopted for the occasion, but such 

 was evidently not the case. It is plain from Ranjei's narrative that 

 the lance was already well known to them. We are here approach- 

 ing the Plains and along with the Plains evidences of bison hunting 

 on a large scale in which lances were usefully employed. Garcilaso 

 tells us several times that the Indians on and near the lower Mis- 

 sissippi were in the habit of putting the heads of their enemies on the 

 heads of lances stuck up at the entrances of their temples, but these 

 may have been on "pickets" instead of "lances" for the French a century 

 and a half later found these Indians using pickets in this way. 



At a later period Ribault observed "short lances" among the 

 Timucua (French, 1875, p. 174 ; Swanton, 1922, p. 356) . Most of these 

 seem to have been kept in the hand, but Adair (1775, p. 415) speaks 

 of the "sure-shafted javelin" as one of the weapons of a Chickasaw 

 warrior and Timberlake (Williams ed., 1927, p. 77) probably has the 

 same weapon in mind when he mentions "darts" in the war equipment 

 of a Cherokee. These are distinguished from tomahawks, and we seem 

 to have no description of them and no indication of their exact 

 character. 



One of my own Alabama informants had heard of spears thrown 

 from the hand, and a Natchez Indian stated that they anciently had 

 cane spears 6 or 7 feet long headed with long, barbed points of flint, 

 later replaced by iron. The latter claimed that these were used in 

 hunting large animals like bison, deer, and bear. They were thrown 

 at the animal or else stuck into the ground with the point protruding, 

 when the hunter would sing a song which caused animals to run upon 

 them. This introduces a magical element, but the story indicates a 

 belief that such weapons were used in former times. 



