USA > Georgia > The history of Georgia, Volume I > Part 2
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"The Cherokees in their dispositions and manners are grave and steady ; dignified and circumspect in their deportment ; rather slow and reserved in conversation, yet frank, cheerful, and humane ; tenacious of the liberties and natural rights of man ; secret, deliberate, and determined in their councils ; honest, just, and liberal, and ready always to sacrifice every pleasure and gratification, even their blood and life itself, to defend their terri- tory and maintain their rights. . . . The national character of the Muscogulgees, when considered in a political view, exhibits a portraiture of a great or illustrious hero. A proud, haughty, and arrogant race of men, they are brave and valiant in war, ambitious of conquest, restless, and perpetually exercising their arms, yet magnanimous and merciful to a vanquished enemy when he submits and seeks their friendship and protection ; al- ways uniting the vanquished tribes in confederacy with them, when they immediately enjoy, unexceptionably, every right of free citizens, and are, from that moment, united in one common band of brotherhood. They were never known to exterminate a tribe, except the Yemasees, who would never submit on any
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ABORIGINAL POPULATION OF GEORGIA.
terms, but fought it out to the last; only about forty or fifty of them escaping at the last decisive battle, who threw themselves under the protection of the Spaniards at St. Augustine. . . . The Muscogulgees are more volatile, sprightly, and talkative than their northern neighbors, the Cherokees." 1
James Adair, who resided for forty years among the Chero- kees, furnishes a most valuable account of these peoples who occupied a charming country and numbered among their settle- ments sixty-four towns and villages.
To Oglethorpe, Sir Alexander Cuming, Baron Von Reck, and others, are we indebted for early notices of this aboriginal popu- lation ; but it had then been already shocked by European inva- sion and demoralized by unscrupulous traders.
Pretermitting, therefore, such narratives as introduce us to an acquaintance with these Indian tribes as they appeared a hun- dred and fifty years ago, let us turn to an earlier period in their history, contemplating the Southern nations, their habits, manu- factures, amusements, employments, and characteristics as they existed in the sixteenth century.
It will not be forgotten that at the epoch to which our atten- tion will now be directed Georgia, then without a name, formed a part of ancient Florida, a wide domain whose nether and east- ern shores were washed by the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and of the Atlantic Ocean, whose northern boundary confronted Vir- ginia of the olden time, and whose western confines, stretch- ing even beyond the Meschachipi River, were guarded by un- known seas. We speak of Florida and its native population as known to De Leon, De Soto, Cabeça de Vaca, Ribault, and Landonniere.
When the Europeans first visited the territory embraced within and adjacent to the limits of the modern State of Georgia, they found it peopled by Indian tribes, well organized, occupying per- manent seats, and largely engaged in the cultivation of maizc, beans, pumpkins, melons, and fruits of several sorts. In the vicinity of Tampa Bay, Baltazar de Gallegos, who had been dis- patched by De Soto upon a reconnoitring expedition, observed extensive tracts tilled by the natives, the products of which he reported " sufficient to subsist a large army without its knowing a want; " and we are told that the followers of the Adelantado on one occasion marched for two leagues through continuous fields of corn.
1 Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, etc., p. 481. London, 1792.
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TIIE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
The walnut, the hickory, the pecan, and other nut-bearing trees were watched and nurtured. Their fruit was industriously gathered, cracked, and boiled, and the oil thence obtained - "clear as butter and of a good taste," says the gentleman of Elvas -was preserved in earthen jars. But for the food and forage proenred from fields cultivated by the natives and found in primitive granaries, the Spaniards and their horses would often have been sorely pinched by hunger.
These ancient plantations were located in rich valleys where a generous soil yielded with least labor the most remunerative harvest, upon islands, and in the vicinity of streams where the products of the earth were readily supplemented by the fishes of the waters and the game of the forests. In clearing them the grooved axe was freely employed for girdling the trees. The circulation being thus interrupted, these trees perished, and were either consumed by fire or suffered to fall down and rot piece- meal.
While tribes claimed specific boundary lines, while to nations and confederacies were accorded recognized territorial limits, and while in such public domain, with its rivers, lakes, and woods, each Indian exercised equal rights and privileges for the pur- poses of travel, hunting, and fishing, a special or temporary own- ership was admitted in lands cultivated by individual labor. The town plantation, if at first cleared by the united effort of the community, was subsequently parceled out among its mem- bers who were thereafter entitled to reap the fruits of their per- sonal industry. Each year, at the appointed season, under the superintendence of overseers, the inhabitants of the town, as one family, prepared the ground and sowed the seed. Upon the in- gathering of the harvest each Indian deposited in his private crib the yield of his particular lot, contributing, however, a cer- tain portion to the public granary or king's storehouse. These public granaries - built of wood, clay, and stones, and covered with poles, earth, and palmetto leaves - served also as deposito- ries for dried fishes, alligators, dogs, deer, and other jerked meats. From them were the chiefs supplied, and their stores were ex- pended in entertainment of travelers, guests, and distinguished strangers. Should the private crib of a member of the commu- nity be destroyed by fire, or should want overtake any one, by the king's command he was assisted from the public granary. Thence, also, did warriors draw rations when setting out upon an expedition.
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IMPLEMENTS, AGRICULTURAL AND DOMESTIC.
Besides his lot in the general plantation, cach inhabitant of the village cultivated a garden spot near his habitation, where melons, beans, and other vegetables were produced.
The principal agricultural implements in vogue were wooden mattocks, scapulas of deer and buffalo, large fish bones, wooden sticks for piercing holes in the ground, and stone spades and hoes. Of the latter three varieties may be mentioned : one, a large leaf-shaped implement, another a sort of grooved adze, and the third the notched boe.
The green corn was boiled in earthen vessels or roasted in the fire. When dry, the seeds were parched and then pulverized. For this purpose, crushing stones, wooden and stone mortars, rollers, and pestles were employed. While most of these stone mortars were formed from flat bowlders taken from the beds of neighboring streams, - their surfaces being hollowed out to the depth of a few inches, - others may be seen manufactured of ferruginous quartz, symmetrical in shape, accurately fashioned, beautifully polished, and capable of holding a quart or more. In some localities we behold permanent mortars scooped out of large bowlders or rocks, which appear to have been regarded and used as public property.
Were we not precluded by the general scope of this chapter, it would be interesting to describe the ceremonies and festivals observed by these primitive peoples when planting and harvest- ing the maize, and the varions methods adopted by them in its preparation as an article of food. Perhaps nothing tended so surely to develop and consolidate the Southern tribes, and to render permanent their habitations, as the general and regular cultivation of this important American plant. Regarded as a direct gift from the Author of life, and held in special esteem, it was not permitted to treat lightly either the grain or the cob.
In the neighborhood of their corn fields were villages, play- grounds, tumuli, fish-preserves, and defensive works. Encouraged by their improved possessions to forego the uncertainties and pri- vations of a nomadic life, long prior to the dawn of the historic period these peoples had become provident of the future, obedient to the will of rulers, jealous of the conservation of their homes, attached to fixed abodes, and, to a certain degree, tolerant of labor.
Ribault thus describes a native village on the Florida coast : "Their houses be made of wood fitly and close; set upright and covered with reeds; the most part of them after the fashion of a
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
pavilion. But there was one house among the rest very long and broad, with settles about made of reeds, trimly couched together, which serve them both for beds and seats; they be of height two foot from the ground, set upon great round pillars painted with red, yellow, and blue, well and trimly polished." Of these ancient towns it may be stated that they were gencrally small, circular in outline, and defended by stockades, inserted in the ground and inclosing spaces varying from two to fifty acres. To strengthen and maintain them securely in their upright posi- tion, the lower ends of these stockades were reinforced by earth thrown against them from within and without. Such an addition contributed materially to the safety of the inclosure; and it is not improbable that some of the old earth-walls and parapets, still extant in Southern valleys, indicate the lines of palisades anciently planted for the protection of these towns.
Occasionally timbers were placed athwart the piles, and the spaces between the uprights were rammed with straw and clay. The town of Mauvila, where De Soto encountered such loss and determined resistance at the hands of the lion-hearted Alibamons, was thus fortified. Its defensive line, in the language of Herrera, " looked like a wall smoothed with a trowel." These walls, loopholed for archers, were strengthened by towers, and at the gateways or entrances guard-houses were located in which sentinels kept watch.
The dwelling of the mico usually occupied a central position in the village. It was either sunk below the level of the ground to avoid the heat, or was elevated upon an artificial mound. Around, in the order of rank, were congregated the houses of the chiefs and principal men. The cabins of the common people were circular or parallelogrammic in plan, the walls being made of upright poles, and the roofs covered with cane, palmetto leaves, moss, or earth. The summer houses were open, while those in- tended for occupancy during the winter were often plastered with clay. In many instances, particularly during hot weather, the cooking was done outside of the cabins, and in small struc- tures specially built for that purpose. Around the residences of the chiefs - which were more ample than those of the com- mon people - extended deep balconies, furnished with mats and cane seats. Each village had its large council-house where public deliberations were held.
Sometimes, as at Talomeco, there was a mausoleum, or temple, wherein reposed the skeletons of dead micos and priests.
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GOVERNMENT OF THE SOUTHERN TRIBES.
This was supplemented by a building which served as an ar- mory. If located at some distance from natural spring, lake, or river, an artificial pond was dug to furnish the town with the requisite supply of fresh water.
Ephemeral in their character, these primitive structures were liable to early decay, and had to be constantly renewed. At cer- tain seasons these villages were almost deserted of their inhabit- ants who repaired in large bodies to favorite streams and to the coast to fish and hunt.
To the office of chief ruler among these Southern tribes apper- tained powers well-nigh despotic. In approaching a king the subject used gestures modified in degree but similar in form to those employed in the adoration of the sun ; the intimation being that to his person and rank were accorded a superiority, a dignity, and an authority near akin but subordinate to those which in- hered in that celestial Inminary, admitted to be the most potent and admirable representative of the goodness and supremacy of the Great Spirit.
At the earliest period of our acquaintance with these peoples they were divided into families, nations, and confederacies. Among all the patriarchal relation was observable. Over the confederacy ruled a king, counseled and supported by micos of component tribes. The office was generally elective, and the ad- vancement to this highest grade was usually accorded to him most worthy of it. As chief magistrate he presided over the grand council. The office of mico, or ruler of the tribe, was also elective; in some instances hereditary. Subject to the ad- vice and consent of his council, the power of life and death, the ability to command the entire labor and obedience of his sub- jects, and the direction of affairs, both civil and military, rested with the king.
The great chief of the Natchez bore the appellation of the Sun, and was succeeded in his kingly station by the son of the woman who was most nearly related to him. He acknowledged no superior other than the sun from whom he claimed descent. Over his subjects he wielded despotic power, disposing at will of life, labor, and property. The caciques governing tribes east of the Mississippi, visited by De Soto during his long and devious march, exacted and received the implicit obedience of their sub- jects. Occasionally, as in the case of the province of Cutifachi- qui, a cacica bore sway.
Presiding at all public deliberations, having at his disposal the
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
corn and meats collected in the public granaries, prescribing the times for planting and harvesting, entitled to the first fruits of the season, possessing the exclusive privilege of granting audience to deputies and strangers, proclaiming feasts and festivals, directing his warriors in battle, providing for the care and maintenance of widows whose husbands had perished in fight or by disease, hearing and determining disputes among his subjects, counseling war or peace, meting out capital punishment to offenders or cap- tives, and capable of compelling the united labor of a community for the accomplishment of a prescribed object, the chief mico was at once king, adviser, judge, master, leader. Nothing short of a controlling will such as his could have compassed the erection of those larger earth-works which even now are recognized as monuments of industry.
Next in rank appeared the great war chief, the leader of the army. In council his seat was nearest the mico, and at the head of his noted warriors. His voice was most weighty in military affairs. In the absence of the mico, it was his privilege to pre- side over the deliberations of the general council. Subordinate to this war captain were leaders of parties and heads of families claiming precedence according to their acknowledged influence, wisdom, strategy, and valor.
Here, too, was the high priest, charged with the conduct of spiritual affairs. He it was who ministered between the people and the Great Spirit, and offered propitiatory sacrifices to the sun as the immediate giver of heat and life and light. No council determined upon a hostile expedition until he had au- gured the fortune of the enterprise. Believed capable of fore- telling the coming drought, of bringing rain upon the thirsty zea, of quieting the tempest and directing the lightning in its course, of expelling evil spirits and invoking the presence of such as imparted health and plenty, this personage was most marked in his influence.
And, then, another prominent individual in this primitive so- ciety was the conjurer, who often united the callings of priest, physician, and fortune-teller. Presumed to be in constant com- munication with spirits, both good and evil ; addicted to numer- ous and extravagant incantations ; possessing charms mysterious and, to the common mind, inexplicable ; indulging in prolonged ånd violent contortions while practicing his deceptions ; claim- ing and exhibiting no inconsiderable knowledge of simples, phil- ters, and medicinal herbs ; administering fumigations, inhala-
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PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS.
tions, baths, blood-lettings, scarifications, local applications, and emeties, the violence of which, says Coreal, one must be either a Floridian or the Devil to resist, the Jaouna imposed largely upon the credulity of the community and received rich rewards from his patients, who, in pain and superstition, regarded the rav- ing of the quack as the utterance of a divine language, beheld the behavior of the cunning impostor with awe, and submitted with unquestioning obedience to the treatment he prescribed. It must be admitted, however, that these medicine men excelled in the treatment of many distempers, and that some of the cures effected by them were remarkable. The early accounts are full of curious instances of their successful conjurations.
" If we have seen one American, we may be said to have seen all, their color and make are so near alike." Such was the ob- servation of Ulloa, the entire accuracy of which we will not pause to discuss.
Tall, erect, copper-colored, with long, straight black hair, with prominent noses and cheek-bones, with regular features, arched brows, and eyes rather small but active and full of fire ; usually grave in deportment, reserved in conversation, tenacious of natu- ral rights, hospitable to strangers, kind to members of their own tribe, honest, hanghty and cruel to an enemy, crafty, valiant, and often engaged in war; expert in hunting and fishing, fond of music and dancing, observant of festivals, nimble of foot ; skilled in the use of the bow and arrow, the club, the axe, the harpoon, and the blow-gun ; patient of fatigue and hunger, yet given to ease and frequent meals; addicted to smoking; ac- knowledging the existence of a Supreme Being; adoring the sun as the symbol of life and heat ; entertaining some notions of a life beyond the grave ; plagued with visions, dreams, trances, and the influences of malign and lesser divinities ; worshiping the Devil, and offering human sacrifices in propitiation of the Spirit of Evil ; indulging to some extent in image worship, and perpetuating the memory of the distinguished dead by mounds and figures of wood and stone; excelling in the manufacture of fictile ware, boats of single trees, shawls, coverings, mantles beautifully woven and adorned with feathers, articles of dress made of the skins of buffalo, bear, and deer, carefully prepared, dyed, and colored, fishing lines and nets of the inner bark of trees, mats and baskets of split cane, reeds, and rushes, and la- boriously constructed weirs for the capture of fishes ; extensively engaged in the fabrication, use, and interchange of various arti-
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THIE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
cles and implements of wood, bone, shell, copper, and stone; frequently monogamous-the contubernal relationship being dis- soluble at the will of the male -the chiefs and principal men claiming as many wives as fancy and station dictated ; ornament- loving, jealous of their possessions, given to agriculture, obedi- ent to kings, - thus runs a general description of these primitive inhabitants.
For the use of queens, on public occasions, a palanquin was prepared. Furnished with mats, cushioned seat, and feathered canopy, it was borne on the shoulders of men, preceded by mu- sicians playing upon reed flutes, accompanied by a retinne of attendants carrying baskets of fruit, and guarded by plumed warriors bearing javelins in their hands. The female breech- clout, made of the long moss of the country, depending from the shoulders, passed transversely below the navel and across the opposite hip. It was far more graceful and flowing than the flap and band, or moss-wad, used by the men. Except when compelled, during the winter, to elothe themselves in skins, blankets, and shawls of their own manufacture, the Southern Indians passed their time in a state almost entirely nude. Even when attired for war the men claimed but little artificial pro- tection for their bodies, and contented themselves with fanciful head and ear ornaments and personal decorations of various sorts. Upon the left shoulder of him who had rendered him- self famous in battle was depicted a tomahawk, the skin being pricked with a sharp instrument to the depth of the tenth of an inch and powdered charcoal rubbed in. Underneath, and in- delibly imprinted in like manner, was the hieroglyphic sign of the conquered nation.
Almost universal was the custom of tattooing. Their bodies being so much exposed, the amplest opportunity was afforded for the exhibition of skill and ingenuity in this respect, and also in - skin-painting. Ear, nose, and lip ornaments, necklaces, anklets, armlets, and waistbands of pearl and shell, inflated fish-bladders, copper gorgets, and, very rarely, gold beads were worn. Cover- ing the feet were buckskin shoes, reinforced at the bottom, fas- tened with running-strings around the ankles, and gathered like a purse on the top.
Without recounting the traditions, myths, and speculations re- garding the genesis and migrations of these peoples, or diseuss- ing the various proofs and hypotheses which might be offered in support of the antiquity of man in this region, it may now be as-
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MOUND-BUILDING BY FLORIDA INDIANS.
serted that he existed contemporaneously with the mastodon, and that his occupancy dates back to a period indefinitely remote. It has not yet been satisfactorily determined to what time, late or remote, the life of that pachyderm was prolonged. Drift im- plements have been reported in a few localities, but the search for them has thus far been partial and in the main unsatisfac- tory.
Exempt from trials incident to a rigorous climate and a barren territory ; their wants supplied by the abundant food treasures of the waters and the forests, and the spontaneous offerings of a warm and generous soil ; in a great measure relieved from those grievous struggles for covering and subsistence which in colder latitudes manifestly tend to harden the condition of the savage and embitter his existence, these peoples, pleasure-loving in their disposition, were, at the time of our first acquaintance with them, leading gentle, agricultural lives, and claiming old and prominent monuments. Without thought of change, they had developed a degree of taste, skill, and a variety in mannfacture superior to those exhibited by more northern tribes, excepting, perhaps, some resident in the Mississippi Valley and its tribu- taries. Among the Natchez, in many respects, this Southern semi-civilization found its fullest expression, its most marked de- velopment. There the machinery of temple, idol, priest, keepers of sacred things, religious festivals, sun worship, and all that, was most elaborate, and there the preservation of the eternal fire en- listed the utmost solicitude.
When the Europeans first landed upon these Southern coasts the Florida Indians were, and apparently for an indefinite period anterior to that time had been, addicted to the custom of mound- building. Desiring to wrest from oblivion the names and graves of those who were famous in the kingly office, distinguished in arms, or noted in the priesthood ; sympathizing in that wish so natural to the human heart to accord affectionate and honorable sepulture to friend and kindred ; eager to dignify the dwellings of their rulers; and ever on the alert to descry from afar the dan- ger which menaced town and temple, these peoples were led to erect tumuli which will here remain for centuries yet to come the most prominent and interesting exhibitions of early construc- tive skill. As affording the most substantial proofs of primitive occupancy, and often being treasure-houses wherein are garnered the surest expressions of the customs, rites, and manufactures of nations whose former existence can otherwise scarcely be estab-
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THE HISTORY OF GEORGIA.
lished, we turn with peculiar interest to these mounds for glimpses of a forgotten past.
That sepulchral tumuli of no mean dimensions have been erected within the historic period is capable of easy demonstra- tion. It is equally certain that the custom of mound-building was generally discontinued shortly after European settlements were formed in this country. Subsequently, instead of being care- fully disposed in the womb of the laboriously constructed mound, the dead were exposed upon ephemeral scaffolds, hidden away in the hollow trunks of trees, submerged in ponds, lakes and streams, buried in the depths of forests, concealed in ledges of rocks, or laid away beneath the floors of lodges with few and feeble indicia to denote their last resting-places.
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