812 BUREAU OP AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



religion of the same people centered around quadrangular temples 

 in which were kept images of their deities in a special apartment at 

 one end. In their territory we also hear of altar stones, some near 

 the temples, some scattered about their country. The bodies of their 

 chiefs and principal men were laid on a staging at one end of the 

 temple. The eastern Siouans had similar buildings but we are not 

 well informed regarding their internal arrangement. The Natchez 

 temple was also quadrangular with a partition at one side but with 

 the accompaniment of a perpetually burning fire and a special corps 

 of guardians. The Caddo cult was similar to that of the Natchez 

 but their temples were circular. 



As a peculiar element in Southeastern myths we may mention tailed 

 men who appear in stories from the eastern Siouans, the Cherokee, 

 and the Alabama. 



Human sacrifices were offered by the Natchez and their allies and 

 by the Indians of Florida. 



CULTURAL SUBAREAS 



I reiterate an earlier statement that the cultures of all of the 

 tribes of this area were basically the same. When we attempt to 

 distinguish cultural subareas we find constant diflSculty in placing 

 our boundaries. In spite of this and in spite of the fact that a 

 discussion of these will involve considerable repetition, I will venture 

 to undertake it. 



Upon th ewhole, classification based on language is found to justify 

 itself when other cultural features are examined, and to justify itself 

 to some extent, but much less, when we consider physical characteris- 

 tics. The culture of the area presents itself in its most typical forms 

 among the tribes from northern Florida and the Savannah River to 

 and including most of the lower valley of the Mississippi and the 

 Red. The Indians of southern Florida were probably set apart from 

 these rather by their environment than by any more deeply seated 

 differences. The Cherokee, Chitimacha, and Caddo owed some of 

 their peculiarities to the same cause and others to difference in origin 

 and early associations. The most distinct subarea of all was that 

 occupied by the Algonquian tribes of the Chesapeake and the coast 

 of North Carolina, which shares so much with the peoples farther 

 north on that coast that its position is questionable. Nevertheless, 

 it is not open to doubt that these tribes were subjected to strong in- 

 fluences from the tribes below, though their immediate neighbors, 

 the Siouan peoples, did not themselves attain to a very elevated 

 position in the cultural scale and Speck, our leading authority on the 

 Catawba, is of the opinion that their culture was relatively low. 

 This seems to be confirmed, also, by the lack of any striking antiqui- 



