774 BUREAU OF AMEBICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



Like all other Indians of the Southeast so far as our information 

 goes, the Creeks had profound respect for a race of dwarfs or fairies 

 which were able to endow human beings with supernatural power. 

 They also believed in giants. The mythology had a place for long- 

 eared animals like mules, bearlike creatures with huge tusks, pointed- 

 eared animals, speckled cowlike creatures, the chief deer, water-king 

 deer, and various kinds of cannibals. Some of the malevolent ones 

 were in the habit of trailing people by means of rollers similar to 

 chunk stone. The most talked of charm was a quartzlike stone 

 called sabia said to have been borne in the flowers of certain plants. 

 Various roots and fruits were also used as charms, such as the 

 "physic-nut, or Indian olive" of Bartram carried by deer hunters, 

 who supposed that it had "the power of charming or drawing that 

 creature to them; from whence, with the traders, it has obtained 

 the name of the physic-nut, which means, with them, charming, con- 

 juring or fascinating" (Bartram, 1940, p. 59) ; also the thigh bone 

 of the highland terrapin, strings of bison hair, the horn of the 

 horned snake, as already mentioned, and bones of the panther. A medi- 

 cine plant of special power was the hitci-pakpagi, "old men's to- 

 bacco." The use of these was accompanied by magical songs and 

 incantations similar to the ones employed in curing diseases. In this 

 connection should be mentioned the medicine "ark" taken along with 

 a war party, and the town or tribal palladium of the Tukabahchee, 

 consisting of a number of copper and brass plates of relatively mod- 

 ern, probably Spanish, introduction. 



Ghosts of those slain in war were believed to haunt the dwellings 

 of the living until their deaths had been avenged. Then they went 

 west, and the good at least ascended to the sky, while malevolent 

 spirits remained in the west, the witchcraft quarter. The road to 

 the land of the dead was supposed to be beset with several different 

 perils, including a lake, serpents, a battlefield, and a great eagle. 



Shamans belonged to several distinct classes. One class, called 

 "Knowers," was able to prophesy future events and diagnose diseases. 

 Twins were likely to become efficient Knowers. The priests or doc- 

 tors were graduates of certain schools presided over by old prac- 

 titioners who took them off by themselves, made them sweat, fast, 

 and take medicines, and instructed them in the mysteries of the art. 

 One of these men was always chosen as war leader, and the medicine 

 maker or high priest of the town was from this class. Elevation to 

 this office depended also in many cases upon clan affiliations. There 

 were also controllers of the weather, controllers of floods in streams, 

 and dew makers. Witches and wizards were implicitly believed in 

 and witchcraft was no doubt practiced consciously, the methods in 

 general being similar to those found in other parts of the world. A 



