SWANTON] INDIANS OF THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES 815 



common. A chief met strangers at the head of his warriors and blow- 

 ing on a flute. In the case of Powhatan, at least, a fixed tribute was 

 exacted from the subject chiefs. At puberty boys and girls were both 

 subjected to a severe ceremonial lashing at a rite called the huskanaw. 

 Divorce is said to have been considered disgraceful and was unusual. 



Some of the eastern Siouan tribes seem to have been unusually 

 hairy or unusually remiss in removing hair from their bodies, since 

 Blande and his companions found the Indians on Roanoke River 

 wearing beards and Lawson tells us that the Keyauwee preserved 

 their mustaches. Like the Algonquians they named their months 

 largely from food animals and plants. Trading was developed to 

 a considerable extent, the Eno Indians even raising surplus crops 

 for purposes of trade. The town house of the Waxhaw was circular 

 and this was probably typical of the southern Siouan tribes in gen- 

 eral. Open arbors were used in summer. As has been noted, Michel 

 represents a northern Siouan woman wearing leggings, and this may 

 have been customary with them. When in mourning the southern 

 Siouan women wore garments of tree moss. Roanoke beads were 

 considerably utilized; no nose ornaments are mentioned. The puc- 

 coon root was rarely used to dye the hair, but instead another kind 

 of root not as yet identified. Paint was not employed by the women, 

 but the Waxhaw and some of the other southern Siouans were ad- 

 dicted to temporal skull deformation. They used the same kind of 

 flint-edged club or sword as their Algonquian neighbors, and their 

 baskets were made of the same materials, rushes, silk-grass, and 

 roots. In some of these tribes the power of the chief was very 

 highly developed, and we hear of powerful chieftainesses. There is 

 no evidence of totemic divisions except the one reference by Lederer 

 and it is not certainly known to which tribe, or tribes, he refers, or 

 that the names he gives were actually totemic. In cases of adultery 

 the male offender alone was punished. Bodies of the chiefs were 

 buried, apparently at full length, and bark was laid over them, rest- 

 ing on a kind of ridge pole, the whole being finally covered with 

 earth. Later the bones were exhumed, cleaned, wrapped in deerskins, 

 and laid in the tribal ossuary. Bodies of commoners were simply left 

 in the ground. Like the Algonquians, they made use of poison to 

 get rid of personal enemies. Their sacred buildings were, however, 

 circular, unlike most of those of their northern neighbors. One of 

 the oldest references to mythologic tailed men is reported from 

 their country. The huskanaw also existed among them. War titles 

 are said to have been taken from the names of wild animals and 

 fishes. A widow was not obliged to undergo ceremonial mourning 

 for her deceased husband and was permitted to remarry at once. 

 Divorce was easy. Enemies were killed to accompany the souls of 



