SwANax)N] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 587 



SLINGS 



When Cabeza de Vaca and his companions of the Narvaez expedi- 

 tion were passing along the Gulf coast near Pensacola and Mobile 

 Bays, they were attacked by Indians carrying slings and darts, but 

 with few bows. Although several distinct attacks were made by at 

 least two different bodies of Indians, slings and darts are mentioned 

 only in connection with the last of these. Nevertheless, it seema 

 evident that all of these Indians were mainly armed with these 

 unusual weapons since the very first Indians they met are described 

 as "tall and well built," but carrying "neither bows nor arrows," and 

 we are told that they wounded Narvaez in the face with a stone 

 (Cabeza de Vaca, Bandelier ed., 1905, pp. 43-49; Swanton, 1922, pp. 

 144r-146). These people had abundance of fish, but little if any corn. 

 One wonders whether the "darts" mentioned may not have been of 

 the kind used with spear throwers. 



The only other reference to a sling that has been brought to my 

 attention is by Hawkins, who cites the case of an unintentional 

 murder committed by a Creek boy upon his companion when they 

 were out "playing and slinging stones. One of them let slip his 

 sling, the stone flew back and killed his companion" (Hawkins, 1848, 

 p. 342) . This happened, however, toward the close of the eighteenth 

 century, and the sling used might have been of white origin. 



SHIELDS 



Shields seem to have been known throughout most of the territory 

 under consideration, though we have no record regarding them from 

 all of the tribes. Ranjel reports shields found in the temple of 

 Talomeco, and it may be inferred from the context that these were 

 of bison hide (Bourne, 1904, vol. 2, pp. 100-102). Garcilaso (1723, 

 p. 132) was informed that on the walls of this temple there hung 

 "round and oblong shields, large and small, made of cane so strongly 

 woven that they could turn a dart shot from a cross-bow, though an 

 harquebuce-shot penetrated more than did the dart." In one of the 

 eight rooms around this temple "were large numbers of round shields 

 made of wood and of cow-hide, both brought from distant countries," 

 and in another "a great many oblong shields, all made of cane very 

 skillfully woven and so strong that the Spaniards had very few 

 cross-bows that could send a dart clear through them, as was expe- 

 rienced in other places outside of Cof [it]achiqui" (Garcilaso, 1723, p. 

 134). We come upon cane shields again on the banks of the Missis- 

 sippi. The Indians who assembled in canoes to dispute De Soto's 

 passage of that river all "had shields made of canes joined, so strong 

 and so closely interwoven with such thread that a cross-bow could 



