yield for one plant, it is seen how well
off, so far as this fruit is concerned, these Indians are.

Hunting.

Next in importance as an industry of the tribe (if it may be so called)
is hunting. Southern Florida abounds in game and the Indians have only
to seek in order to find it. For this purpose they use the rifle. The
bow and arrow are no longer used for hunting purposes except by the
smaller children. The rifles are almost all the long, heavy, small bore
"Kentucky" rifle. This is economical of powder and lead, and for this
reason is preferred by many to even the modern improved weapons which
carry fixed ammunition. The Seminole sees the white man so seldom and
lives so far from trading posts that he is not willing to be confined to
the use of the prepared cartridge.

A few breech loading rifles are owned in the tribe. The shot gun is much
disliked by the Seminole. There is only one among them, and that is a
combination of shot gun with rifle. I made a careful count of their fire
arms, and found that they own, of "Kentucky" rifles, 63; breech loading
rifles, 8; shot gun and rifle, 1; revolvers, 2--total, 74.

_Methods of hunting._--The Seminole always hunt their game on foot. They
can approach a deer to within sixty yards by their method of rapidly
nearing him while he is feeding, and standing perfectly still when he
raises his head. They say that they are able to discover by certain
movements on the part of the deer when the head is about to be lifted.
They stand side to the animal. They believe that they can thus deceive
the deer, appearing to them as stumps or trees. They lure turkeys within
shooting distance by an imitation of the calls of the bird. They leave
small game, such as birds, to the children. One day, while some of our
party were walking near Horse Creek with Ka-tca-la-ni, a covey of quail
whirred out of the grass. By a quick jerk the Indian threw his ramrod
among the birds and billed one. He appeared to regard this feat as
neither accidental nor remarkable.

I sought to discover how many deer the Seminole annually kill, but
could get no number which I can call trustworthy. I venture twenty-five
hundred as somewhere near a correct estimate.

Otter hunting is another of the Seminole industries. This animal has
been pursued with the rifle and with the bow and arrow. Lately the
Indians have heard of the trap. When we left Horse Creek, a request was
made by one of them to our guide to purchase for h