2
the fact that there are only three men left and no women, Since the
children follow the clan of the mother, the Deer clan will be extinct in
the next generation. A similar fate was in store for the Alligator clan
noted by Clay McCauley in 1880, and now it has disappeared completely.
Each one of these nine clans is exogamous--that is, a man must
marry outside of his mother's clan. Among the Seminoles a third provi-
sion is made whereby certain groups of the nine clans are linked together,
which restricts a man's choice of a mate even further. The Tiger, Panther,
and Wildcat clans are linked. The Otter and Town clans are similarly
joined, as also are the Bird and Wind. Under this marriage restriction a
member of the Bird clan would be obliged to avoid marriage to a girl of
the Wind clan, but he would be permitted to choose one from any other
clan. A study of the marriages recorded by the United States government
Seminole census shows that extremely few marriages occur which do not
correspond to this usual pattern. But so few clans survive from the
much larger number once in Florida, it has now become allowable for a
man to marry a woman of his father's clan, though I was told that in the
old days this clan was prohibited to him also. As an example we can
note Ingraham Billie's family, where Wilson Billie, Ingrahams's brother,
married Ingraham's daughter though she would be considered his niece by
our system of classing kin. She was a member of her mother's clan, the
Wind clan; hence a proper bride for a Panther man. Another instance in
the same family is where Annie Billie, Panther, Ingraham's sister, married
Charlie Billie, Ingraham's son, her nephew by our system, but outside of
the clan by Seminole custom and hence a fit mate.
Of special interest is the clan known as the City or Town clan,
which my informant maintains is composed largely of Indians and mixed
blood. He indicated that when the Seminoles started St. Augustine they
found two white girls wandering in the woods, lost, tired and hungry.
He thought perhaps that they were Spaniards. Some of the tribe wanted
to kill them, but the chief said, no; as they were women, they should be
kept and made to work. Eventually they married Seminole men. Since
these women were not Indian, they belonged to no clan, and consequently
had no clan affiliations. To solve this problem, the City clan was
created, its original members being the children of those two marriages.
He says that this clan is composed of descendants of captives and mar-
riages outside the clan, such as Seminole-Spanish or Seminole-white;
anything but Seminole-Negro. Members of the City clan today include
influential members of the tribe. The clan has its counterpart among
the Cow Creek Seminoles north of Lake Okeechobee, who have a clan known
as Big Town clan.
Two classes of medical practitioners exist among the Florida Semi-
noles. The most important are the medicine men, who are not only in
charge of the entire ceremonial life of these people, but hold a good
deal of political power as well. A medicine man is responsible for curing
sickness, and must undergo a period of instruction and training to fit
him for his duty. The main distinction between the medicine men and the