Notes on the Floridian Peninsula; its Literary History, Indian Tribes and Antiquities

317

See an instructive notice from Pere le Petit in the Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses, T. IV., pp. 261-2, and the Inca, Lib. II., pp. 69-70; Lib. IV., p. 188; Lib. V., pp. 202, 231, &c.

318

Port. Gent, in Hackluyt, V., p. 489.

319

Nar. of Oceola Nikkanoche, pp. 71-2. The author speaks of one “that must have covered two acres of ground,” but this is probably a misapprehension.

320

I am aware that Mr. Schoolcraft places the pottery of Florida intermediate between the coarse work of the northern hunter tribes, and the almost artistic manufactures of Yucatan and Mexico, (see an article on the Antiquities of Florida, in the Hist. of the Ind. Tribes, Vol. III.;) but the numerous specimens obtained in various parts of the peninsula that I had opportunities to examine, never seemed to indicate a civilization so advanced.

321

There is an excellent paper on this topic by the well-known geologist, Lardner Vanuxem, in the Trans. Am. Assoc. Geol. and Naturalists, for 1840-42, p. 21. sq.

322

This is not an invariable proof however; see Tuomey, Geol. Survey of S. Car., p. 199, note.

323

Second Visit to the United States, Vol. I., p. 252.

324

Am. Jour. of Science, Vol. XI., (2 ser.) pp. 164-74.

325

Le case loro sono edificate di stuore sopra scorze d’ostriche, e sopra di esse dormono sopra cuoi d’animali. Relatione que fece Alvaro Nunez, detto Capo di Vaca, Ramusio, Viaggi, T. III., fol. 317., E.

326

On the geology of these bluffs, see the articles by Mr. Allen, in the first, and Mr. Conrad in the second volume of the Am. Jour. Science. (Second series.)

327

Travels, p. 198.

328

The peculiar hue of the whole St. Johns system of streams has been termed by various travellers a light brown, light red, coffee color, rich umber, and beer color. In the sun it is that of a weak lye, but in the shade often looks as black as ink. The water is quite translucent and deposits no sediment. The same phenomenon is observed in the low country of Carolina, New Jersey, and Lake Superior, and on a large scale in the Rio Negro, Atababo, Temi, and others of South America. In the latter, Humboldt (Ansichten der Natur, B. I., p. 263-4) ascribes it “to a solution of carburetted hydrogen, to the luxuriance of a tropical vegetation, and to the quantity of plants and herbs on the ground on which they flow.” In Florida, the vast marshes and hammocks, covered the year round with water from a few inches to two feet in depth, yet producing such rank vegetation as to block up the rivers with floating islands, are doubtless the main cause. The Hillsboro, Suwannee, and others, flowing through the limestone lands into the Gulf, are on the other hand remarkable for the clarity of their streams. I have drank this natural decoction when it tasted and smelt so strongly of decayed vegetable matter as almost to induce nausea. A fact not readily explained is that while the dark waters of other regions are marked by a lack of fish and crocodiles, a freedom from stinging musquitoes, a cooler atmosphere and greater salubrity, nothing of the kind occurs on these streams.

329

For particulars concerning some of these, see Wm. Bartram, Travels, pp. 145, 165, 206, 230; Notices of E. Florida, by a recent Trav., pp. 28, 44; American Journal of Science, Vol. XXV., p. 165, I., (2 ser.) p. 39.

330

Flint, (Travels, Let. XVI., p. 172,) says that neither of those found in 1810 measured more than four feet. This is an error. He only saw the female, whose age was not over fourteen, and the squatting position in which the body was, deceived him.

331

Conq. de la Florida, Lib. V., P. II., cap. VIII.

332

In French’s Hist. Coll. of La., Pt. I., p. 61.

333

Mems. Hist. sur la Louisiane, T. I., pp. 154-5.

334

Hist. of Louisiana, Vol. II., p. 230.

335

A New Account of Carolina, p. 191.

336

Joutel, Jour. Hist., p. 218; Mems. of Sieur de Tonty, p. 61; Dupratz, V. II., p. 22; Cabeza de Vaca. in Ramusio, T. III., fol. 317, E.

337

Lawson, ubi suprà, p. 180.

338

It was remarked of the mummy found in the Mammoth cave, “In the making of her dress there is no evidence of the use of any other machinery than bone and horn needles.” (Collin’s Kentucky, p. 257.)

339

Archæologia Americana, Vol. I., p. 230.

340

Whence the French verb boucaner, and the English buccaneer. Possibly the custom may have been introduced among the tribes of the northern shore of the Gulf by the Caribs.

341

Dumont, Mems., Hist. sur la Louisiane, T. I, p. 240.