The Seminole Indians of Florida | Page 5

I would even
venture to select from among these Indians three persons whom I could,
without much fear of contradiction, present as types respectively of a
handsome, a pretty, and a comely woman. Among American Indians, I
am confident that the Seminole women are of the first rank.
Clothing.
But how is this people clothed? While the clothing of the Seminole is
simple and scanty, it is ample for his needs and suitable to the life he
leads. The materials of which the clothing is made are now chiefly
fabrics manufactured by the white man: calico, cotton cloth, ginghams,
and sometimes flannels. They also use some materials prepared by
themselves, as deer and other skins. Of ready made articles for wear
found in the white trader's store, they buy small woolen shawls,
brilliantly colored cotton handkerchiefs, now and then light woolen
blankets, and sometimes, lately, though very seldom, shoes.
[Illustration: Fig. 61. Seminole costume.]
Costume of the Men.
The costume of the Seminole warrior at home consists of a shirt, a
neckerchief, a turban, a breech cloth, and, very rarely, moccasins. On
but one Indian in camp did I see more than this; on many, less. The
shirt is made of some figured or striped cotton cloth, generally of quiet
colors. It hangs from the neck to the knees, the narrow, rolling collar
being closely buttoned about the neck, the narrow wristbands of the
roomy sleeves buttoned about the wrists. The garment opens in front
for a few inches, downward from the collar, and is pocketless. A belt of
leather or buckskin usually engirdles the man's waist, and from it are
suspended one or more pouches, in which powder, bullets, pocket knife,
a piece of flint, a small quantity of paper, and like things for use in
hunting are carried. From the belt hang also one or more hunting knives,
each nearly 10 inches in length. I questioned one of the Indians about
having no pockets in his shirt, pointing out to him the wealth in this
respect of the white man's garments, and tried to show him how, on his

shirt, as on mine, these convenient receptacles could be placed, and to
what straits he was put to carry his pipe, money, and trinkets. He
showed little interest in my proposed improvement on his dress.
Having no pockets, the Seminole is obliged to submit to several
inconveniences; for instance, he wears his handkerchief about his neck.
I have seen as many as six, even eight, handkerchiefs tied around his
throat, their knotted ends pendant over his breast; as a rule, they are
bright red and yellow things, of whose possession and number he is
quite proud. Having no pockets, the Seminole, only here and there, one
excepted, carries whatever money he obtains from time to time in a
knotted corner of one or more of his handkerchiefs.
The next article of the man's ordinary costume is the turban. This is a
remarkable structure and gives to its wearer much of his unique
appearance. At present it is made of one or more small shawls. These
shawls are generally woolen and copied in figure and color from the
plaid of some Scotch clan. They are so folded that they are about 3
inches wide and as long as the diagonal of the fabric. They are then,
one or more of them successively, wrapped tightly around the head, the
top of the head remaining bare; the last end of the last shawl is tucked
skillfully and firmly away, without the use of pins, somewhere in the
many folds of the turban. The structure when finished looks like a
section of a decorated cylinder crowded down upon the man's head. I
examined one of these turbans and found it a rather firm piece of work,
made of several shawls wound into seven concentric rings. It was over
20 inches in diameter, the shell of the cylinder being perhaps 7 inches
thick and 3 in width. This head-dress, at the southern settlements, is
regularly worn in the camps and sometimes on the hunt. While hunting,
however, it seems to be the general custom, for the warriors to go
bareheaded. At the northern camps, a kerchief bound about the head
frequently takes the place of the turban in everyday life, but on dress or
festival occasions, at both the northern and the southern settlements,
this curious turban is the customary covering for the head of the
Seminole brave. Having no pockets in his dress, he has discovered that
the folds of his turban may be put to a pocket's uses. Those who use
tobacco (I say "those" because the tobacco habit is by no means

universal among the red men of Florida) frequently carry their pipes
and other articles in their turbans.
[Illustration: Fig. 62. Key