508 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Oct. 18, 1913. 
With the then Inspector Thompson, of the 
New York Police force, this Seminole Indian 
was shown the police headquarters and the jail, 
and for a moment both were locked in the black 
cell. With a keen sense of humor Billy enjoyed 
the joke, and his people in the swamps, as they 
repeat to each other the wonders of the visit, 
will laugh at the monstrous joke of “Bowlegs in 
jail.” 
This visit will have its effect on the entire 
band of 600, for from mouth to mouth will the 
incidents be repeated; and in the spring, as the 
contingent of Seminoles make their annual visit 
to Kissimmee, great laughs will be indulged in 
as they repeat the jokes, “Bowlegs tell me,” or 
ask questions for more information with the 
preface, “Bowlegs tell me.” Since the day when 
the proud young Osceola lived and ruled his 
people, have they, as a tribe, gleaned knowledge 
of the world’s doings and the progress civiliza¬ 
tion makes. The members of the tribe, who ven¬ 
ture into the busy world or gather knowledge 
from any source, impart it to the other and never 
do the accounts diverge. 
The Seminole is a man of few words, full 
of reserve, but having a quick insight into the 
intricacies of progress in any form. 
The very old chieftains of the tribe wish no 
improvements nor departing from the old ways, 
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but the younger members desire a higher civili¬ 
zation. Old Chief Tallahassee, now bent with 
four score years, is kindly, but proud as any 
old Aztec chieftain. He would dignify any in¬ 
heritance of history and tradition, but he is at 
present the obstacle among the Cow Creek In¬ 
dians and objects to the innovations of the 
white man. He is the father of six boys, and 
as he talks of his affairs, he says, “Me no lie, no 
steal, no kill; my boys no lie, no steal, no kill; 
ibis land (and his hand trembles with agitation 
and he nervously taps the log upon which he 
sits)—land all Indian's land; .my boys’ land; 
white man no give it to Indian,” and he refuses 
to accept the proffered aid of those who would 
purchase these fields for him, and moreover his 
law is so stern that he will not allow his people 
to accept either knowledge that could be im¬ 
parted to them by teachers, nor land purchased 
by Government or State money. 
From a friend, whom he trusts, he will re¬ 
ceive gifts with great fervor, and from money 
earned by the members of the tribe, there is no 
objection to the manner of spending. A num¬ 
ber of the squaws own sewing machines, which 
the men use as readily as the women. On Talla¬ 
hassee’s last visit to Kissimmee, he wore a bright 
red shirt or tunic, elaborately trimmed with dif¬ 
ferent colored edgings of calico, and proudly 
told that it was a present from his son, Billy 
Buster, who had made it on the sewing machine. 
Each year for several successive years four 
or five of the Indians make a visit to Kissimmee, 
a different company being chosen each year for 
the annual tour.' The visit is looked forward 
to and prepared for many months before. Last 
April the steamer Roseada brought a company 
of four, Chief Billy Stewart and his squaw 
and two young boys of the band. “Old Talla¬ 
hassee had said the year before when arranging 
for the next year's visitors, ‘Four come plenty, 
six eat too much.’ ” 
Melakee, the squaw, wore the regulation 
Seminole woman’s dress, no head dress and no 
moccasins, but loaded down with many strings 
of beads around her neck, weighing, it was esti¬ 
mated, from twelve to fifteen pounds. She was 
lightened somewhat of this burden by tourists 
who were eager for the beads, always consult¬ 
ing her husband and obeying bis dictates. She 
disposed of a number of strings at good prices. 
The typewriter was a revelation to the boys 
on this visit, and knowing how to spell their 
names, they were eager to write them with the 
typewriter, which they did, not forgetting to add 
the prefix “Mr.” 
It was notably observed, and with pathos 
too, that it was the first visit of any of the 
Seminoles to Kissimmee when they did not have 
a supply of money with them. They seemed very 
poor, staying away from the stores, but grate¬ 
fully receiving trinkets, pencils, etc., which they 
volunteered to take to different members of the 
band. Each donor of a gift will be gratefully 
remembered and many children of the town de¬ 
lighted in bringing them gifts. 
At this point it recurs that it is two years 
since Billy Bowlegs was in Kissimmee, at which 
time a young lad presented him with some token. 
On the crowded streets of Jacksonville, where 
the crush was greatest, this same little boy was 
in attendance, and called to Billy who sat in 
state on one of the handsome floats, asking if 
he knew him. “Yes,” replied the Indian, “me 
see you Jimmie Willson's house, Kissimmee 
City.” To have remembered a growing boy and 
to recognize him away from home in a dense 
throng, shows the keen perception of this son 
of the woodland. 
It is an undeniable fact that the Seminoles 
are being reduced in circumstances. They have 
been driven from one resting place to another, 
their wigwams destroyed during an absence, for 
the Seminole is migratory, camping a few 
months at one point, while he perchance fattens 
his hogs on the mast of that section, then re¬ 
turning to plant corn, sweet potatoes and pump¬ 
kins at the settlement. The new game laws of 
Florida work against the Seminoles to-day, for 
they observe strictly the edict of the lawmakers, 
and will not violate them, which cannot be said 
of the wily white man who has ways and means 
and tricks that are vain, when it comes to de¬ 
frauding Uncle Sam or depleting nature’s boun¬ 
ties; so to-day the Seminole, as proud as the 
old conquerors, but child-like in his simplicity, 
is coming to the place where he is in need of 
assistance-—in need of ways to make an honest 
living. They are an industrious people, honest 
and peaceable. When on visits to civilization 
and seeing the fruits of the white man’s toil, they 
immediately become interested and ask for seeds 
and how to plant them. 
Through the aid of the “Friends of the 
Florida Seminoles,” a society organized some 
years since in Florida, eighty acres have been 
purchased for these Indians to be held in trust 
for them. The purchase of other fields is con¬ 
templated, but the land is tied up in the hands 
of the railroads or in Government claims, and 
many technicalities have to he gone through be¬ 
fore transfers can be made. "What will Semi¬ 
nole do when white man take all your lands?” 
is a question often asked. With downcast face 
he replies, “Indian go; Indian no fight.” In 
this old turbaned tribe, little changed from the 
Indians Do Soto found, we have a remnant of 
the most deserving, picturesque and moral of all 
the aborigines of America. They are human 
beings—with a record disgraced by no dishonor. 
Seeking Genuine Greenheart. 
Clayton D. Mell, of the United States Forest 
Service, has gone to British Guiana to inspect 
greenheart timber to be used in the construc¬ 
tion of docks and other marine works for the 
Panama Canal. He goes at the request of the 
Isthmian Canal Commission, in order that the 
engineers may be sure that they are getting- 
genuine greenheart timber, for which a number 
of inferior substitutes are offered. 
Genuine greenheart has the reputation of 
being the most resistant wood to the attack of 
marine borers and to decay. Borers are es¬ 
pecially bad in tropical waters. The wood is, 
in addition, hard, heavy and durable, and not 
subject to damage from impact and wear. In¬ 
disputable records show that the best grades of 
this wood surpass iron and steel as to lasting 
qualities in contact with salt water. It has 
been known and used since 1769. Logs have 
remained intact under water for 100 years. 
Lock gates in English canals have been made 
of it for years, and the only limit of their dur¬ 
ability so far has been the length of service of 
their iron bolts and fastenings, which usually 
can be renewed without much trouble. Green- 
