Silver vs. Gold.

I saw no gold ornaments. Gold, even gold money, does not seem to be
considered of much value by the Seminole. He is a monometalist, and his
precious metal is silver. I was told by a cattle dealer of an Indian who
once gave him a twenty dollar gold piece for $17 in silver, although
assured that the gold piece was worth more than the silver, and in my
own intercourse with the Seminole I found them to manifest, with few
exceptions, a decided preference for silver. I was told that the
Seminole are peculiar in wishing to possess nothing that is not genuine
of its apparent kind. Traders told me that, so far as the Indians know,
they will buy of them only what is the best either of food or of
material for wear or ornament.

Crescents, Wristlets, and Belts.

The ornaments worn by the men which are most worthy of attention are
crescents, varying in size and value. These are generally about five
inches long, an inch in width at the widest part, and of the thickness
of ordinary tin. These articles are also made from silver coins and are
of home manufacture. They are worn suspended from the neck by cords,
in the cusps of the crescents, one below another, at distances apart of
perhaps two and a half inches. Silver wristlets are used by the men for
their adornment. They are fastened about the wrists by cords or thongs
passing through holes in the ends of the metal. Belts, and turbans too,
are often ornamented with fanciful devices wrought out of silver. It is
not customary for the Indian men to wear these ornaments in everyday
camp life. They appear with them on a festival occasion or when they
visit some trading post.

Me-Le.

A sketch made by Lieutenant Brown, of Saint Francis Barracks, Saint
Augustine, Florida, who accompanied me on my trip to the Cat Fish Lake
settlement, enables me to show, in gala dress, Me-le, a half breed
Seminole, the son of an Indian, Ho-laq-to-mik-ko, by a negress adopted
into the tribe when a child.

[Transcriber's Note:
The picture described does not appear in the printed text, and is not
included in the List of Illustrations.]

Me-le sat for his picture in my room at a hotel in Orlando. He had just
come seventy miles from his home, at Cat Fish Lake, to see the white man
and a white man's town. He was clothed "in his best," and, moreover, had
just purchased and was wearing a pair of store boots in addition to his
home-made finery. He was the owner of the one pair of