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GEOEGIA AND GEORGIANS 37
substantial brick houses of modern design; and some of these Indians
were men of means, owning negro slaves and cultivating large tracts of
land. In prehistoric times, however,- conditions of life were much the
same: there were few inequalities. Each head of a family, in addition
to his dwelling, if at all thrifty, had a corn house, a poultry house, and
a hot house. The chief agricultural product raised by the Indians was
corn, or, as they called it, maize. Hunting was a favorite occupation;
but as the Indian became more and more civilized he became less depend
ent upon the chase as a means of livelihood and pursued it more as a
source of enjoyment. The Indian hot house was not like ours, designed
for the protection of potted plants. It was a house built of heavy tim
ber and plastered with mud, in which he found shelter during the win
ter months. It contained no opening except a low door, which when
closed made the interior practically an air tight compartment; and,
though not to be recommended from the standpoint of sanitation, yielded
some protection against the cold weather without. There was also a
fireplace built into a crude chimney, and around the warm coals which
were constantly replenished, the Indians gathered to smoke and to sleep.
The Indian village usually centered around a public square, in which
the courthouse was located, a design whose counterpart is still to be
found in the courthouse square of our present day county seats. But
the public square, in an Indian village, contained also a great house,
used for public gatherings, feasts and dances. It consisted usually of
four single-storied structures enclosing a court. The council house
occupied a corner of this square, was conical in shape, and measured
some twenty-five or thirty feet in diameter. Here tue Indian chief or
mico held his council. Each town or village, though bound by a loose
sort of tie to other communities, constituting the same great tribe or
nation, was a separate jurisdiction within itself, more or less independent.
Local self-government was a principle deeply embedded in the natural
instinct of the Georgia Indians; and it frequently happened that, when
a nation was at war, some of its component villages took no part in the
fighting, and sent no warriors into the field. Whenever a nation pre
pared for war, each village acted independently upon the proposition.
There was no contral government either to advise or to enforce unanim
ity of action—except at a comparatively late period; and only in the
presence of a common danger was the nation likely to act as a unit in
applying the war paint. Besides a mico, who was chosen by the war
riors of the village from a certain family, to serve for life, each village
had also a war chief, who took command of all military operations. Ow
ing his position to renown in battle, he was more than likely, if over
taken by reverses, to forfeit his honors to one of greater prowess. The
council was composed of the town fathers.
Diplomacy was an art unknown to the Indians. To quote a dis
criminating writer, who has made this subject a special topic of study: *
"The various tribes of Indians were seldom at peace with one another
for long periods. Quarrels over hunting grounds appear to have been
a fruitful cause of war. The Indian method of warfare was quite unlike
that of civilized peoples. There was no formal declaration of war, no
* E. P. Brooks in "History of Georgia," p. 21.