SwANTON] INDIANS OP THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 699 



there is one account of a party organized under more plebeian aus- 

 pices. The warriors were clothed with breechclouts and belts, wear- 

 ing ear pendants and carrying rattles and war clubs. The rat- 

 tles were probably for use merely in the preliminary ceremonies. 

 They carried along provisions, mainly consisting, it would seem, of 

 the "cold meal" to which reference has been made elsewhere. They 

 had axes, guns, war clubs, and sometimes shields, the guns having 

 taken the place of the bows and arrows of an earlier period. A man 

 who desired to lead what may be denominated a private war party, 

 planted at a certain spot two posts ornamented with feathers, arrows, 

 and war clubs painted red. Volunteers repaired to this spot eve- 

 ning and morning to take a war medicine which acted as an emetic, 

 to dance, and tell their military feats. 



If the Natchez nation deemed that it had received an injury from 

 some other tribe calling for collective action, a council was held and 

 the calumet of war was hung on a pole at the door of the house 

 where the matter was under deliberation. The occasion for war was 

 presented by the head war chief, but the decision rested with the 

 council. In order to avert hostilities a peace calumet might be sent 

 to the offending nation accompanied by a strong party, to attempt 

 a reconciliation. When war was determined upon, a war feast and 

 dance were held at the house of the war chief, though one writer 

 asserts that the rallying ground was before the temple. The war 

 calumet was placed upon a pole in the middle of the ground, and 

 this was surrounded by various articles of food, principally made 

 of corn and venison, placed in wooden dishes, in the very center of 

 which was a wooden dish containing a dog roasted whole. A speech 

 was made by a retired warrior who lighted the calumet and put it 

 in circulation beginning with the war chief, after which he put it 

 back upon the pole. After that they feasted on the dog meat, and 

 drank the war drink {Ilex vomitoria)^ the ceremony being punc- 

 tuated at intervals with war cries raised by the younger warriors. 

 One writer states that each volunteer harangued the war chief at 

 this time. At any rate the use of the emetic was followed by the 

 ceremony of striking the post on which hung the calumet, each war- 

 rior as he did so recounting his notable exploits. This was fol- 

 lowed by the war dance, the old men meanwhile coloring the war 

 clubs red and making the incised wooden objects which were to be 

 left in the enemj^'s territory. Three days later they set out, trav- 

 eling in single file, though, if the party were a large one, they might 

 move in five or six columns. If they found they had been discov- 

 ered, they might return, leaving 10 or 20 warriors behind them to 

 surprise stray hunters and isolated families. Before they retired 

 for the night a war party sent out scouts to considerable distances 



