Part
II.
The Indigenous World of 16* Century Florida
-rpter
The ImmensitY of Florida; Inhabitants as Seen by the Conquistadors 1.
steep mountains as if it u-ere yesterdal" sels th6se cyerlasting spring scasons, thoss sereuc rivers' be to alrvavs seetnecl and hills, and the beautiful trees that (Ocampo)' bedecked u'ith reci ancl Yellou'flou'ers'
'I remember thtise
of lantl lvhich came to be kno$'n as Florida - .: 16"'centurv inclucled all that lav bctu'een Labrador rvhich bears its natne - ),lerico, as u'ell as the peninsula * . The lach of clear criteria defining its frontiers and - - ntradictions cotnmon to the period's geographers or almost -:.cribing the area, rnake it very difficult their natives' the .sible to give an overall accoullt of 'Ihe Spaniards considered . : life and social behavior. - ir to be as described bY Herrera:
j
-,
.rst stretch
"fl-re Province of Floricla, close to the Aurliencio ol Las I{ispaniola. cotlprises all that is benveen the rivcr of $'ith frontier the drat's and Panttco P.rlmas, u'hich reaches has thzrt all and north\\"'lrds T3" \cu' spain and from there 'I'he has coast inltrnd' and bcen cliscttvereil on the coast leen follou'ed from tl-re river of Las Paln-ras up to Santa Elena, u'hich is some 600 leagues distant'''
--i -rn example of the diff'ere nt critcria emploved to dcfine that: - :rr-:.1. Acosta,v Sol6rzano considered
'rlie borders of Florida are unstlre becaltse its territtlrl' runs are ro lltllch to the \orth ar-rd to the West that its limits .in-rplv not knou'n'.'
'Herrera. Hisnrit. r II. -lbstimonv of Diego dc '
Acostl 1'Soltirzano quotcd in Serlano Sanz (er-I). Dotunutlrts rfu la Florirla v /1 !'xi5ixPn. ;i3/os Xl'l al Xl'lll. \laclricl: Libreria General clc \rictoriano Su'ircz. 1c)12,
pp 171-172.
r40
-l'sr Ixorc;nr.'ot
s
\\roltt-Il or t6'" Cs\r'LRr FlonItl'r
Geographical texts even talk of various different rvithour Floridas, tire Spanish, the French and the English' actuallv being ablc to agree rvhere each ends and another centttrrbcgins. Toclay ir can be said that Florida in the 16'" Alabar-ni' consisted of the present states of Georgia, Florida' south the and Nlississippi, part of Louisiana, part of Texas Le6n' Carolina. Whcn the Spanish, le d bv Juan Ponce de
of got there in 1513, they dicl not realize that it rvas a lvhole or rather a peninsttla on a contincnt''lhey even "ontin"nt, it as the 'island of Florida'' For them it rvas just described another island in the Caribbean' An exhaustive analYsis of the human and physical oi makeup of Florida u'ould leacl to the detailed description rr; thc hunclrcds of diff-erent societies and cultures thac could found in rhe vast region that stretched from the l\4ississippi to the Atlantic coast. The greal diversity tncans' holvever' thc that it is important, and indeed interesting' to look at
CH EROKEE
O
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a-a\
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GULF
OF
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oF f'LoRID\l Il s l\II\BI'fA\rs
\s Sllx sr' rHl Corqr lsl
1 roots ancl to underlinc the differences only when
-
:.' particlllarlY outstanding'
-r:l esscssing the Spanish experience in Florida ancl - -;trlties encountered, it is important to stre ss the
disconcertecl the -,r e rsit-v of sn'rall tribes rvho so - . explorers. The fact that thc Indiar-rs rcferrcd to -:-r cs indiscriminatel-v by the names of their villages' : Ceciclr-res complicates the identification process
u
I
- -:ther. - :stimated that about 350 different langttages u'ere to be a problem for thc - rn the area. This came . - ls s-ho, having no fixed settlement until 1565' had - i io learn to comlnunicate properly rvith the Indians' ,-. olthc torvns they visited they captr'rrecl lndian girls 'tonglles', to : -- - is gr-rides, lvhom they referred to as - - :n)" them and put them in tor-rch rvith the people - --|rouring provinces. The Spaniards lt'ere' after all' . - 'r need of foocl and clothing' As the expeditions useful since - ' lreas u,here the guicles \\rere no longer - j : no knou-ledge of the othe r dialects spoken there' lic- generally set free, ancl replaccd by others' As in :ler parts of the Nerv World, the 'tongttes' came to
- :-.3\ part in the conqllest. :::c chroniclers describe Florida as having abundant ---:. rn. that u'as often too tnuch even for the horses' j:c sometimes ttnable to fbllor'v the paths' There - - <uriant forests and many marshv areas' drenched in - -: carue to be impossible to pass these areas r'r'ithout :-rq the indians of the vicinitl', 'nvho obviottsl-v kner'r' in their ou'n enr-ironlnent' - -: i-s'ell horv to get about . , -irble help of the 'rongucs' has alreacly been - re d. although on occr'tsion thel turned against the ' - is. There were moments lvhen thel' cieceived the own towns' or by - . : . b)' leading them alvay from their to dangerous them - :hctn get lost and even taking .r irere ambushes hacl been prepared' T'his 'betrayal' -; j r gre at \\raste of energl, particularly u'hen it : j ihe death of some men and the Spanish Governors
\DOR.-i
Trrl Irnlclrols
r42
\\'onlo or t6 Cls't t tll liLcltlltl'r
pLlnished the offendcrs severel)'. As regards its name, Floricwas kno\\'n as Cautio bv thc indigenous peoples until the arrival of the Europeans. 'I'he narne Florida $'as besto\\'ed : Ponce de Le6n u'ho glimpsed the place for the first time ol Easter Sundav ot Pos(tlo I'-/orir/a as it is knou'n in Spanish. It rrust have seetnecl an appropriatc name in other u'ays, because hc also rcf-erred to the land as being'the most flori: place he had ever set eyes on'.
'Robert S. Cotterill. Z/r Sautlttt Inrliats. Tfu Storl' ()ixi/iztrl T'ilrs Bdott: Rtnot'al. \orman: L,nivcrsitv of o;f r/te
Oklahon.ra Press.
19-5-1,
p 7.
'The battlc of \etn'ila took place on lS" Octolrcr 1540.
The prirnitive population of Florida arrived in the northern part of the Arnerican continellt over thc Bering Strait from Siberia. Thc first to do so \\'ere three different grollps, the Sandia, the Clovis and the Folson, rvho later moved south. It lr,as the Folson ll'ho \l'ent to thc southwestern and central parts of North America. Thking into accollnc that Florida u'as relatively far fron'r the Bering Straits, it nnst have becn populated later, particularlv thc area r.l'hich is the peninsula today. In the 16''' centur1,, at the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, rvhilc there was a multitucle of peoples and languages, thcre u'ere a nlrmber of larger tribes. An-rong thern u,ere the N'luskogee, lvho u,ere made up of the Creek. the Cl'roctalv and the Chickasar,r', ancl r'vho had arrived in the area via the Nlississippi. 'I'heir zone of influence u'ent as far as the Atlantic coast. It scems that the Chickasarv and the Choctau'did so at the same time, and \\'ere aftenvards separated. The latter settled in the lorver Nlississippi,' rvhile the Chickasau', a tnuch smaller group and much morc dispersed, established themselvcs higher upriver. Thev both calne into contacc rvith the Europeans for the first time u'ith the expedition of Hernando de Soto, after the disirstrotts defeat he sLrffered at the barttle of Nauvila.u Tlre second large group wcre the Timucua or Seiior, lvhose territory extended up the Aclantic coastline to Santa Elena. In fact, they occupicd almost the entire peninsula, exccpt for the vcry sollthcrn reaches u'here the Calusa lived. These two groups, the Calusa and the Timuctta, are particularlv interesting because they lvere the first peoples the Spanish encountered on arriving in the regi<-rn that is che
rt
THs lrtrtEssIrl
ol
F
g\ rrtl Oorpt IST\l)oRS LontoA: I rs Ir-IlARIl'\\'fs '\s Sr:s:.'
--.:-da-vFlorida.TheCalusawereundoubtedlythefirst : rlet by the conquistadors' They are the best knorvn Fontaneda' , - ' - io the account of Hernando de Escalante for Timucua' ,, :S their captive from 1551 to 1566' The r - r-1rt. were made up of many tribes of differing sizes' rr -:ng the Fresh Water, Nlococo, Ocale, Ocita' Saturiba' that ..ba ancl Utina, among others' It was in their midst Nlen6ndez Pedro ' --\: mission was set up at the time of
,,.:,-is.Beforetheendofthecentury,in1594'therervas -
-'.
.r
dictionary of their lrnguagc''
,l: LIFII: ,\(lItICt-l I-TLlltE' . i\G .\ND ITISIIIN(;
societies rvere basically agricultural in spite of .-::sremarkthat'...neitherbreadoru'inelvasproduced
:-:
the luxuriance of the land was not conducive to -: :ing or maturing process''6 The staple diet lvas maize ,, - . .li'ter a drying process' was stored in special barns .. - - ;'ttrbacoas' where it was then ground and use d' These iii ,/-r' wâ&#x201A;Źte usually installed next to the house of the a shady place' in order to ,, . - --. or head of the tribe in , :ne clamaging influence of the heat and the sun' It - : only grain that u'as kept here' There was also meat' least two harvests -:-i other foodstuffs. They enjoyed at even though it ---. ,rne in Nlarch and anothcr in June, : be emphasized thac they did not reap very much :liher. When they had finished eating the produce
r - ,:i
.-i]edinJune'theytendedtomoveawayfromthearea
:.\tiar. :lc to san::e ninstil'.r. C-rlusa
.:il-lCtta.
arC
-:.t peoPlc. . ,n thilt is i.
l,lrrch. IVIaize was therefore the Spaniard's basic food " : journeys through Florida, together with the biscuit -- -,,r.tght from Spain. This lvas perishable' horvever' and . . ,n ihort supply. They did of course try to find other
-' tut they were never able to move far from the maize ':. :tld they found nothing they knerv they would have : - - rndemned to hungei and starvation' - . js a rudimentar-v sort of agriculture' Ic combined all : diff-erent activities from the collection of raisins'
'
o,f )-o t'li -l n, n t u tt Cltic tgo. Ch ic'tstr
H 0 tt rl|tozk
J n rl i a n s.
I'nivcrsitv Institution. 7
Press.
Snlith'oni:n
197,9 (2()
r
t.
r II'
pp
52-7 53.
Ilcrrerrt. Hi.rluritt r l. 1r ltt' ' In other areis of the ,\r-nerican contincnt. the s ord lttrlaua nle:ll.lt ln ldobe rir cn'
,\ fire rrotrld be lit s ithin ;nd' once thc o\ cn \\':l\ hot. * ould bc taken oltt end nlcat Plrced
insicle. irraPPcd or cor ercd t ith sand. so thrt it could keeP Irot longer.
r44
TsE Ixorcnxols \\'onr.o on r6'" Crxrr:nr. Iilonru,t
fruit, palm marrow, beans, pumpkins, vegetables, dried fruit and sunflower. In addition the Indians gre\tr tobacco rvhich they smoked, as evinced by the srarrled observation of one of the chroniclers: 'all over the area people get drunk on smoke, and they give whatever thev have for it'.' Though the Spaniards suffered from hunger in Florida, it does nor seem that it was poor land. In fact, it offered variety of agricultural products, and there was much meat and fish available. But their inability to create any permanent setrlements, which might have allor,ved them to cultivate the land, and their scant knowledge of the a
'Feclerico Dausl Francisco dc I t t rodtr ri i n ;, uqni lirn
\pericio. .y
h.r altorigtttes rle Any'rica rlel
ltorte y Any'rica Cutml. In Ricrrdo Le r ene llir.). Histutin de Any'rira. Buer.ros Aires: \\I. \1. Jackson (1 1 r'), v I, pp 2.{9-2.53.
areas they r,vere moving in, meant that the winter took them by surprise in uncongenial areas, and hunger thus set in. Hence the desolation that so often cranspires from
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Florida: native Americans tilling and planting. I-ine engrar.ing b_v Theodor de Bn 1.591, after a nori losr clras.ing b-v Jacqucs Le \lo_vne de \Iorgues
l'Hn
Irrrrrxsrrr or Iilonro.l; r'rs I:-H.\Brr,\r'-'I's
AS
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' : --roniclers' accounts of the expeditions. This was not, :-.
I
r, the real Florida.
e
e fields were so\4/n by the women. It u'as a tribal -,-ilire, in the sense that property was comlnunal. The ,,. - - rest to the small to$'ns r,r'ere cultivated by all, men
rl
i#
rtt]er, even though the latter had the more ardllous l Tliey rarely came away lr,ith a surplus and, in any . j :rev never sold or cxchanged it. When it came to ' : - ::ribution of grain, it seems that there never were - rflicts between members of the same tribc. On the -,:r'. in fact, a great solidarity seemed to reign, and '' - - re enjoyed a roughly similar economic status, rvith ^' r : ,--e ption of the Cacique and the shamans. -.:-ir subsistence agriculture compelled them to be : -r rmadic. This was the case not only rvhen their lands : :rhausted and they rvere forced to seek a livelihood :: - :ere, for they also moved in accordance r.vith the :-.. They generally went inland for hunting or towards "' r - :i[ to fish. Ferv could avoid moving. It rvas for this : :hat Florida had no stable population until very late
-
tr u
$ -: -
-:
:-
:'\- so\yod and rambled in search of food; thcn, r.vhen
i:'rllrned, they harvested and stayed in the village . -ipplies had been exhausted once again. This u'as :,iod u'hen the most important social activities rvould : - :ce. There rvere feasts, games and rites. It lvas the : le s'hen they rvcre able to stay in their homes, and r - :re\- \yere therefore all together. In addition, it r'vas the " -:-r u'hen they had abr-rndant sr-rpplies of food alchough .. only temporary, of course. -dependence on hunting in certain areas at specific =ir =
- :ccording to the
.-
seasons, searching for r'varmer described them thus: Cabeza de Vaca
rmetimes thev have to carry u'ater and n'ood u'ith thern iheir pursuit of deer, since the,v are often in areas l.hich ,r'e neither, and they must carry boch u'ith them...'."
>
.-
" Cabeza de \:rca. '\auli;rgros (1 1537-.+0)'. In Rt.rbcrto Ferrando. I'inju 1 titticrrt.:. x i 1i ts
p
o
r No rt.o n I ri ca.
\Iatlrid:
Qu(rrum, 1987 (2 r'). v I. pp 1 1-59.
r46
'I'Hr: Irorcr:rous
\\'onlo or r6'" Crrrunr Fl.onrn,r
It rvas a life of hard labor, to which they u'ere forced through hunger. Nevertheless, even though the majority of peoples had r lead a kind of non-radic life, they did so to differing extents. The Indians living in the peninsula had the sea surroundinq them and therefore had less need to go trekking after the hunt, contrary to those r,vho lived further inland. The climate gave them no motive for doing so; it was warm in sllmmer and cool in the ll'inter and temperatures were neve: extreme. Such an unstable life rvas inevitably reflected in the type of dwellings they built, that u,ere never long-lasting. The houses of the Timucua were irregularlv laid out in thc village. They r,vere round, rvich a single door, lolv roofs and no u'indor,vs, and surrounded by a wooden palisade. There r,vas only one gate to the village, next to lvhich \\'ere two lvooden huts covered in branches, with many gaps in the wall through rvhich to observe outside r,r'ithout being seen. This kind of protection shorvs that there was a permanent possibility of attack and frequent conflicts betr.l'een neighbouring villages. The houses were made of wood or mud and were covere: u,ith leaves and branches. The Cacique's house was the largest and generally had balconies and windows and was located in the centre of the village. Next to it were the borbacoas for storing the grain paid as tribute by the other members of the tribe and by other dependent villages. In the north there rvas a different kind of dwelling or.ving to the harshness of the climate. The summer houses were much the same, but they built houses out of clay for the winter. When a fire was lit within they would warm up like an oven. Another kind of house was made of matting bored through with wooden stakes. These could be moved from place to place and were therefore widely used rvhen they roamed around in search of food. The most outstanding aspect as far as the dwellings and layout of the villages of Florida are concerned, holvever, were the mounds, which lvere found all over the region
'l'nr: Irtrtrxsl.tl ol FLrtnrrr,r: Irs Iru.lutr.\NTS As SlEr sv rur: OoxptISI,\DoRs
r.n the Atlantic to the \Iississippi, including part of the -..ula. These \verc man-made hills on rvhich drvellings - ..uilt, either for clefencc or against the flooding that - :d st-r regularll'. The humps rverc heaped up by - .ncl then trodden clor'vn so as to be flat on top. Here . iiilt the orclinary houses and the Cacique's quarters. ::imes the latter rvere placed on a second mound, close ' -' nrst, u'hich u'as for the exclusive use of the chief and
--lilr-."'
-----ss to the du'ellings \\ras up sonte vertical steps, some -Jtres long, u'ith cross-planks embedded in the soil
-
- -.,irs. The rest of the mound r,vas made steep to avclid - -: clirnbecl from another direction, thereby making it '- -:.rcure. Sometimes the top of the mounds u'ould be -rded by a r.vooden palisade." :ir shape varicd enormously; but mostly they'uvere -.:. Sometitncs they u,ere elongated, aud in these cases, rked likc u,alls six to 12 metcrs thick and about -'iicr high. Others had the shape of lou' quadrangular - :ls. frequently supcrimposed in the form of terraces. '--:sion the-v: rvere shaped like animals, ll'hose -ism is unknorvn but rvhich are frequently found - :.i peoples drvelling near rivers." -: Creek tribes to the north located their torvns by - - ,:cs or on small islands. T'heir dwellings were feu'and -: :d. For furniture they used a kind of bench lr'hich : , iroth as beds and seats and lvere arranged around the - :lc r-niddle of the abode. For the Indians, a house lvas : - rrn just a hornc, it r'vas a refuge against the inclernent - - :r lnd a placc to sleep in. Life happened outside and - oking ancl eating took place in the <tpen air." ': r'i1lages !\,ere generally small; sometimes they - -.)ccl no more than 75 to 20 houses. The settlements - . -iire f'ar apart from one another, as much as several ,Lrrne-ying, u'hich made communication or commercial rs difficult. F-or chis reason therc rvere a large ' - :': ol different dialects. Holt'ever, in spite of this, the - -lcrs all agree that there rvas a certain sirnilarity in
"\tege. Florirla, p 169. " Daus; Aparicio. Intrurlatti,jtt. ' l)rrusr.\prrricio. I ntt,'r/t,, i'itr. Quoted bv Crrus'l homrs. '['lronras. IIb rk i n,ll r, u n r/ E xplo ra ti
o
tt rlf t/tt,
B r rcn u
Etlnohg'. \\ asl.rington: Smithsonian Institution. Bureuu of Iithnologr, 198-1. "Cotterill. Sout/rcrn. pp 13-10.
of
r48
Tgr: I--nrcasor;s \\'onLo ol r6"'(lrxrunr Fr.onrrtr
the structure of these villages. And even r,vith the lack of contact betrveen them, \vhen strangers appeared (such as the Spanish), they swiftly alerted one another by means of a string of bonfires which were lit from village to village. In this way, the other indigenous communities were u,arned oi any impending danger. Other important activities in the Indian economies u'ere hunting and fishing, since their subsistence agricukure could not guarantee food throughout the year. They had n, domestic livestock and meat, that r,vas so important a parr of their diet, came exclusively from hunting. Birds, which u,ere frequently consumed, lvere shot from trees lvith grel: skill. They also made use of the feathers. Hunting was more common amongst the Indians in the north, where there was little grain available, and where thev r,vere far au,ay from the sea. In the south they were alu'avs able to rely on fishing. The most commonly hunted animal ll'as deer, whose carcasses provided much more than just meat: hides, winter clothes, blankets, moccasins, bones for tilling the fields as lvell as adornments for the hair, bracelets and even leather balls to play with during their moments of leisure. The horn. were boiled to make glue and, mixed u'ith pigments, were used for painting the skins. The gut u'as use d to make cord. but primarily for strings for the Indians' main weapon of u'ar. the bou,. They even used the heads, suitably emptied out, for hunting, placing them on top of their or,vn for camouflagc in the undergrowth. In that way they were able to get close to the herd u'ithout the trick being noticed. Horvever, this was not the most widely-used hunting method, for they rarely stalked the animals; they preferred to use rraps, some of which were highly ingenious, such as this one described by Ocampo: 'They prepare one of their strongesr and most flexible pole: r.vhich they place in an arch betu'een two trees, srrapping ir up wich string and leaving a lose rope hanging. Then chev
seek out a small animal like a bunnv rabbit or a bird to sen.e
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Irrrrnxs|rr Or FLonrn.l;
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I)irr,rrrT,\NrS
AS
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bait. As the n'ild animal goes to take the little animal, he makes the arch shake; the latter has a heavy rock placed on it rvhich then falls on lhe anin-ral and stuns it. The Indian then jurnps out and kills the beast...'.'n as
-f-he-v
also hunte d bison, rvhich \vas a source of much - .rnre products as deer. Wornen used the hair to make . tbr their o$rn hair and to make bracelets and other -::rents. -fhey also hunted rabbits, snakes and birds,
u'ell as turkeys rvhich they greatly ^-ricd for their beautilul feathers. -'. Florida there u'ere many different kinds of animals. . nq the u,ild ones there rvere panthers, bears, rvild --:- {setS, hares, rabbits, beavers, otters, foxes and a great --:j:\'of birds: partridge, doves, turtledoves, ravens' ' -:: rri'harvks, herons, cranes and ducks.t'f'here lvere ,rrndS of insects, above all rnosquitoes, which were the -:i:rr of the Spanish explorers and u'hich the Indians --.:rted bv burning a particular r,vood u'hich they used : '. tor that purpose. Iunting was a necessarY means of obtaining food for . -etlians. It rvas never a sport or a trading activitY. They ---- not trying to procure surpluses; they merely lvanted -r-.Lrre their food supply r'vhen grain stocks were running li ri'as only later that the Indians traded their prey - ,, L- products the Europeans had brought lvith them.ro -i :rn activity for tnen, and alr'vays collectivelr'-' The --:n end the men rvho did not kno\\' hou' to hunt scayed -: r illages to r'r'atch over thc fields, to \\reave baskets rrepare the fire for the mcac that the hunters rvould - ::nqing back. The tnen u'ho did not hunt u'ere poorly ' - jcred by the rest of the group' 'lheY u'ere thought to - -:=rlinate and rverc often subjecr to cruel jokes. --:-,-,ther staple in the Indian diet in Florida u'as fish' This ,- ::rticularlv the case u'ith the Timucua Indians r'vho Elena. - - rn the peninsula and on the coast as far as Santa fish, of kinds all -' ilere expert fishcrmcn and obtained - :>. snails, tuna, seal, shellfish and u'hales' all in great
-
- iuck and doves
as
'' Juan de Ocampo. 'La gran Florida'. In Juan de Ocampo. F ral Salcedo -v Ord6iiez &
Dicg,r Albdniz dc lr Cerrud:t. La grnn Florirlrt Por el unesln'
Jatn dt:
La
rle OunnPo; los ChiaPa.s (r1o:
Pllla
Salrer/o de
1'
y
PartgraY), Por F.
Otdditz;
'Iriugns
los rlesierto-;
(lkrnas rle I'enezur/n) de kr Ccrrnrla.
pr't'Diego 'l/biniz \ladrid: Ddiciirn Am6rica
[1920], p 120. '' Roberts Nilliam. lz Art:ottnt of tltc F irct Disroterl, and ]'rrtaral Historl' of Florirla.
Gainesville: Universitv Press of Florida, 1()7 6 (1" cd. 1 763), PP'+-5.
"'Cottcrill. Sttutlern, p 11.
Tirn IsoIr;rsot's \\ionlo or r6 'Clsrlnv Fr-onlD{
quantities. 'lrout, according to Hernando de Escalante, \\'erc 'as large as a man';r7 this, of course, is an exaggeration, btll they must have been of a considerable size all the same. They also ate clams, mussels, crabs, sole, snails and oyster: The bones of some fish were Llsed as fish hooks, darts, small spears and needles. Otherwise, they might be colored and used as jervellery by the women. 'Ihe sea was the Indian's natural environurent. All chat he extracted from it, or fron thrivers, rvas useful. Nothing was strange, even the roots on the coast or the rivcrbanks wcre pulled out to make bread. It is noc exactly known how they fished but one u'oulcl suppose they u'ould have used hooks made from fish bone. They may even have done so by hand, for they u'ere excellent swimmers. Ocarnpo provides an example of this. though one cannot be sure that the practice rvas u'idcspreai. for there is no other reference: '... for fishing, they rnade use of a bitter plant rvhich sent ti:. fishes rvild. They crush the leaves of the 'llantt, they pull ii out, ruffling the rvater rl,ith it r'vhile the fish begin to jump like drunkards. and fall back on their backs in the u'ater.
T'hat is r'vhen they fish thern...'.''
Around the Nlississippi. they made use of the salt of the river that rvas deposited on the sand. It u'ould, holt'ever, be inevitably mixed up u'ith the sand when they collected it sc to separate it, they r-rsed special baskets that the1, attached to a tree r,vith a vessel beneath. They poured r,vater over it r,r'hich dripped into the vessel; they filtered it and put it to boil, reducing the quantity of u'ater little by little until onh salt u'as left ac the bottorn of the pan.'n The fish of this aree rvere obvionsly rather different from those found on the coast. Fidalgo de Elvas describes them in this rvay:
'' Escalante Fontaneda.
'Nlenroria', r'\, p 53-1. '' Ocampo. 'Gran'.
pp 121-122. "\iega.
F
/orirla, p 115.
'There rr,as a fish rvhich the Indians callecl Bugrcs, lvhose head took up a third of its body and that had large sharp spines on both sides of irs gullet and gills. There r.vere otlrers similar to a mullet and another like the C/topa tvith " head like a sea-bream. Another *'as knorvn as the Pez Palti
'['Hs Irrur:rsrry ol lir,onrrrr; r ls Ixu.e.nrr{-\Ts (]oseltsrrDORs 'rS Sll\ sl rns
and had a snollt
There $.as Pereo, and
'l'his
a
a
T
yard long pointing up\\'ards like a spade.
fish the size of a pig u'hich n'as knou'n
it had teeth...
as a
'.tu
latter description is surprising because it comes
"" :-i an author rvho is not generally given to exaggeration,
'
"
rgh such excesses are often found in the pages of other niclers; it must have re ferred to an example i,l'hich -rtless had impressed the Spaniards.
-
-
The Indian peoples seemed to be absolutely fearless of : -- iea; they lvere so at ease r,vith it that thcy even captured , -.-es. Oncc more, Hernando de Escalante described, in - :Jcount reproduced by Jackson, the spectacular u,ay in ' -h u'hales \\.ere captured. Thev formed parc of their ,,1 diet: 'They rvould close in on them in small canoes, and hurl a sharp pole r.r'l-rich n'ould fit into onc of the ir openings (the blowhole). The Indian then hits it repeatedly u,ith inother pole, causing it to sink. The u'hale crinvulses half maddened. The Indian u,aits until ic cahns dou,n and u'hen it does, he stabs another pole into the other cavitl', leaving the animal unable to breathe. FIe then retLlrns to his canoe and waits for the n'hale tri die. Once it is captured, it is cut up in pieces'.''
3.rrh fish and meat r,vere laid out in the sun to dry on
, :d of rvooden grid and finally roasted or boiled, never r-:-r ra$.. If any was left over, it would be preserved salted
ir
'-
.
:
:=i
picklcd. They had small dogs r,vhich they did not use
- .rnting. On occasion, the Spaniards lr,ould feed on them , - -: hunger set in, but the Indians never did so. They had
This has often been r,r-ritten about, , r.rrticular attention has been dralvn to the fact that, at -: reginning, this animal inspired great fear amongst thc - :oS. 'fhey had believed that the rider rvas joined to the :--: in a single body. D6vila says it all in these ferv words: '... '. -:qht of a single horse brought more fear to the Indians, , - - :ndeed was better in war, than the hands of two men...'.22 set eyes on a horse.
,,.
''
Elvis. Eryediririn, p 106.
''\\iilliam
R. Jackson. Erz'l.t
Florida tltrough Sprtnislt E.tcs. NIian.ri: f r.rir,ersity of \lian'ri I
Press, 1954, p
6.5.
" Ddvila Prdrlla. Hi.storia. p 206.
qI
r52
Tns INorcr:\ot's \\roRLD oF r6"'Cs:qr.r:ny Flonrra
PHYSIQL]E: .VERY GOOD I-OOKING' The Indians were gcnerally naked; only rhe women co\rered themselves with silk cotton from trees, a kind of fibre thar was usually dyed before Llsing. However, the style of dressin. depcnded to a large exrent on rhe region and the season. If the temperature allorved it, they r,vent completely, or partially, naked. When the cold reappeared, they made skiir> and breeches our of the hides. With the rigours of winrer, they lvould cover their shoulders rvith pehs in the manner oi tunics; in addition, they ll,ore moccasins -sewn together u.irldeer gut- on their feet. Su'anton gives a precise account of how leather was lr,orked in the Indian world: 'They painted rhem, cut them with sharp stones and put them onr to dryr'lhen they plunged thern in water for several days and put them to dry again to get rid of the smell. Having done rhis, rhey boiled the skin in water n,irh deer brain so as ro soften it. The follou'ing day, thev made a hole in the ground, lit a fire and piled on some maize cobs. Thev u.ould hang the hide over this, u,irh the outer surface facing dorvnu'ards. They r,vould stay like this until the smoke rvas vellor,r'. After.that, they addecl red oak rvooo and cooked it in rvater for a certain time. They then left ir i cool for a day, and iater to dry'.,.
'Si,r'anton. Indians, p 445.
Hair r,vas usually rvorn long. The women had theirs loose on rheir shoulders and the men tied theirs up with a piece of string in the centre of their heads, leaving a fringe at the front. At feasts and other special occasions, they decorated their hair rvith feathers and bones. This gave them an appearance which apparently pleased the Spaniards, for in all their descriptions they refer ro the clcan, tidy look of the Indians. They used different headdresses of colored feathers and they painted their bodies in different rvays according to the occasion: burials. wars or feasts. By interweaving animal hair they made bracelets or ankle rings; these were complemented by having balls hanging ar their feet. When thev danced they sounded like maracas accompanying the rhythm of
-fHE
Iurrlrsrrl or Flc.rr.Ioll Ils IxH.rstr.\\'1
s .\s
Sllx sr rur CoxprttsrAl)oRS
- jrnce u'ith their tapping. The chroniclers r'r'ere much ' . :essed bv a fabric made from plants and palm leaves - -h the women wove together u.ith great ingenuity to ---: r'eritable tapestries. This \\'as a parricular activity on : reninsula. -:r produce, rvhich \\'as so itnportant a part of their -:.:ion, ll'as also used as jeu'ellerl'. Shells rvere used for : -.-llces and bracelets, as lvell as spiral shells and starfish, - ,icoursc pearls, u'henever they could find thern.
I
---.e \\'erâ&#x201A;Ź, horvever, used decoratively and had no special
-
:'.
to their grooming, the Spanish also admired . -:dians' extraordinary physique, beautl, and, especialll', - r jirture. It should be added that oil'ing to their rvay : rnd consumption of food r'r'ith little fat, they had ' : . irdies and their \\'omen r,vere shapely and graceful. ' -:: irom the climate and the nutrition r'r.hich doubtless - :::'5uted to their good form, the Indians also gave much - ::rnce to fitness and from an early age \vere made to --:; in physical exercise and u'ar games. ,: -r sical attributes played an important social role in the "- It has been observed that in some tribes the Cacique -'s tamily rvere alu'ays the tallest. Indeed they lvanted --inue to be so at all costs so that tl-re position of pou'er j -- not cease to be occupied by their family. Ic rvas for r.-rson that all the neu' members of the family r.vere : - special nutrition, different from the rest, and other -- i treatments that \yere thought to accelerate and
-: rcldition
-
I
-i.ic glowth:
'\\'hile the children lr'ere still in the cradle and being looked .iier b1, the n"ridn'ives, the specialists gor into action. For .everal days they u'ould sn"iear the limbs of the child rvith .l,.riled herbs, u'hich u'ere said t<-t soften the bones; then the-v -..,rLrld pull on the bones to lengthen them, for by thac time ::e\'\\'ere as soft as wax. Then the midu'ives covered thetn '.i ith blankets and put them to the breast; they enriched the ::ilk ri'ith other special food. Er.'ery feu'days the.v u'ould ipear this process'."
''Jackson. F,arly, p 37.
)
Trrn Isntr;I:.'ols \\'tlnIo ot'- t6"'Cr'srr'nv FIonIll
The Florida Indians \\rere generally taller than the average 16''' ccntury European. Holvever, in the case of thc Caciques and their families, they rve re 'exaggeratedly ta1l" Herrera referred to the son of the Cacique of Thscalusa in this rvay:'he u'as 18 years old and so tall that no Spaniard came up to his chest'."
They looked after their skin rvith planr juices or oil, for it u,as exposed to all r,veathers. It was a coppery olir''e colour, probably because it rvas permanently exposed almost naked to the sun' There is no evidence that ther-dianything special such as piercing their boclies' except for tl--inhabitants of che island of Nlalhado (next to the peninsul: rvhere the men r,r'ould pierce cheir chests r'vith hollou'cane:: sometimes they did the same to their upper lips'
SOCIAI, AND POLITICAL ORGANISATION
Among the peoples of Florida in the 16'" century there u'ei: no lalvs. but even so no-one broke any rules, '... for them to go againsc ctlstoms or traditions lvould be death'''u The supreme authority, vested in the Cacique, made sure that this u,as so. He, or indeed the 'Cacica' (for women could also fill this role) had the highest rank' though they never exercised their rule in an absolute or dictatorial manner' They frequentll' consulted rvith the elders of the tribe; several days a year they u'ould meet in the public square ar: chey even asked advice from them. Only u'hen there ll'as a clorrbt about something, or r.vhen thev had to declare war ot: another tribe, u,as their auchority made manifest, and in thl' case it rvas irrcvocable. They strove to maintain che custon:. of rheir tribe, all of which were ancesrral, aware that this $'". what their people expected of them. If rhe-v did not do so or did not try to do so, theY r'r'ould be much discredited anc
"FIerrera. Hisrorin,r'
\rI-\III.
25. d6cada \ill. " Ocampo. 'Gran', P 125.
p
might be deposed. From the beginning, thc Spanish tried to gain the Caciques' friendship u'ith presents and concessions' Ther \vere not, hor,vever, alu'ays able to do so. Poor relations u-itl: the Indians was a constant theme of the Spanish experienc;
Tttg Irtvtsst.lt
clr l:t.ontt;,r: I't's ]srLrglr.\\'l s ,\s Srr.' gt .tlt t Urrrqrt t! tAl)oIis
: - rrida. If there \vas not olltright war, thcrc \\ras ongoing -.:rr-entailing the loss of many lives and the hopes of - .-.'conqlristadors. It u'as onlv Pedro Nlen6ndez de Avil6s ' \\'i.rs able eventnally to establish a ccrtain friendship -- ihese pcoples that u,as based on a deep respcct for - . This is revcaling, for he had to face a nerl'rcalit,v in , - )nquest: the prcsence of the Frcnch. The lattcr had set -:-selves up in Florida and had alread-v nurturecl some all. iirlnt fiicndships there. -: sl-ror-rld be underlined that u'hile man-v of these --. .ues had rnanaged to get neighboring tribes to sttbmit, -' :hem and pay sorne form of tribute, there u'as no ',:rollnt chief in thc region. This goes some \\'a-v to .ining the weakncss clf Spain's prescnce in Florida. Aftcr -:, ct-fort they managecl to befriend one of the Caciques, : --.'\\-es only able to guarantee the cooperation and ' --ssion of just a feu, tribes, making it necessarv fbr the --,.h ro continue going from Cacique to Cacique in their -zriion of vast tcrritorl rvhere the indigenor-rs people --' -,imost alu'avs hostile to ne\\rcomcrs. - ihc peninsula, the Caciqr-re 's po\\'er lvas hereclitarl,; irr ' j: lreas, horvever, the position r'r'as e lected according to - --rl ciualities perhaps, or proved pro\\'ess in battle. ' .:-. ertheless, a Cacique usually tried to ensure the -' :-. rernained in his ou,n famihi AII obeyed him, as -- ;d u'ith the tribal elders; the Indians had a decp scnse ' -:e ct and ar-rthorifi'. The membcrs of each communit,v - :=cir leader tribute in kind, lvhich x,as almost alu'avs - :lrrr lre kept next to his du'elling in borltrtruas or other -.-. -fhe Cacique also rcceived tribute frorn subordinate . --. ,lring tribes, but he \vore no outrvard signs of great ir ,rr \\'ealth, except for sotne special ornament and the -r-.ion of a larger house than those of his people. - :re \\'crc no intermediarv po\\rers or different social , --'-. rlthough healers and sorcerers commanded rnuch - -: rnd older people enjoyed a considerable moral :rr'. Ljsually, the healer and priest or sorcerer \\'as the : :Jrson, u'ho combined botl-r important functions: they
r56
Tnr Ixorcaxous \\'onr,o or r6,,CrxrLrnr Flontlrr
blessed boll's and arrows before a war party set off, they prayed for rain, they predicred the future and, of course, cured rhe ill u.'ith herbs they always carried about their
persons. Their curing techniques consisted in inducing vomiting with smoke, and if they needed to open up the body, they would cur rhe skin u,ith sharp shells, collecting the blood u'hich was shed. If the sick person was young, suckling morhers would drink the blood so as to enrich the:: milk to give strength to their lirtle ones.r'
SO\IE,\SPE(]TS OIr So(]I,\I, I-IF'IJ All members of the tribe worked in the fields. Indeed, the woman had rhe harder task for she was also enrrustecl lvith
Iooking after the home, rvhere her companion u,ould be no help at all, and also rvith breast-feeding rhe children, rhar ri_;: usually much prolonged on accounr of the scarcity of food. Despite this, women in Florida had a high social
''Lon.en.. Spnni.rfi, v II, p 64. "\/ega. F/orirlo, pp 397-400.
status and played an important role in the feasts and enterrainments. They came and went as they wished and, in general, were fairly free. Adultery, however, ll,as disapproved of in men and severely punished in women, r'r'hile also entailing the repudiation of the entire communir. for all of their lives. Adulterers had to painr their faces in a cerrain way so that they could be distinguished from others. The Inca Garcilaso told of such an incident in nyo important rribes, the Cosa and the Thscalusa. Among the Cosa, adultery was judged in public by special judges; the rest of the community would hurl abuse ar the offenders benveen beatings, once rhe husband had stripped his u,ife naked and cut her hair. The verdict was always rhe same: they r.vere either banished from the community or made to live lvith relations, never to srep out of the house again. Thc tscalusa were even tougher; the adulteress would be tied to a rree by her husband and killed r,virh arror.vs by the othemembers of the tribe.r' But the Indians \{rere very scrupulous u.,hen inflicting punishmenr, even when they considered it fully justifiJ.