To
the seminal call of this latter the grassy water
and the seminal who knows the Everglades of Florida as the white man can name them.
Well this is a sea of Sawgrass
a dark primeval whose restless whispering was shut away
and often ominous like the
sluggish then blooded like the
leap for cotton mouth.
Mark the vigilant wheezy on a parent
or a splendid graceful something though this is a land of cypress swamp
which green like the reflected in the edge of a lost world here in the glaring
light of the swamp all living creatures must be wary for the. Faintest of sounds.
Maybe an overture to death.
No where else in the world is there anything life fishy
or abundance of wildlife nowhere else is the all inspiring spectacle of survival in
nature so dramatic the state is.
Here millions who died in Hama
and a multitude of other species build nests lay eggs live and die.
Here the brilliant the color.
Carlos they cry was a deadliest creature in North America its pride for kill a man
in seven minutes the human intruder is dazzled by the color
he finds in the ever greater
good. I was arrested by Myriad he was so brilliant that they singed the sky
and center the flame each evening over the high Okie
the seminal nose the Everglades with the profound entering the city his titles
broke the stillness of the swamp more than a century ago he took refuge here from
American troops who tried for forty years to move them to Oklahoma
but neither he let live.
And I may know they call a relentless swamp could break it.
Left it at that age the Seminole had to learn how to live in the great swamp
and he has become its master in this grim
and shadowy world all creatures on and on to and only the quick
and the strong
and in the
process is a deep sensitivity to nature
and to hear about high in the world of infinite variations
and beauty drinks in the quiet loveliness of the roseate spoonbills probing the
shallow waters in search of food.
It is as though there was a bond of understanding between him
and the exotic bird a
marvels at the miracle of life
that just boundless capacity to flower the flower to get here cupped in the fingers
of a dead man grow defiance to
and from what I this Stark's less than four hours old
that tiny throat still palpitating in the agony of breath.
It is a rare stand you know.
It's.
Knowing hands he poses way home.
What in the late afternoon instinctively alert to both the wonders
and the dangers of his world
resting in the most mud
and cushioned by a matting of weed the alligators nest the deal itself to the side
this monstrous mother will kill to defend her young
Simoneau villages are built on packages of high dry ground called How much which
where themselves sporadic
and in the swamp each village is composed of one family its size depends on the
number of marriage parties the custom of the tribe
that husbands live with their in-laws their huts a call to keys
and they are so built that
when the hurrican House about the home of the winds were passed through great
houses fall before the how to can
but the chickie remain standing Simoneau
women are famous for their statuesque appearance and quiet dignity.
Tribal law forbids them to.
Speak to white people so rarely does a white man visit the village they scare
garbage speared by the men though inedible
that silver armor is a rich prize the scales will be boiled Leach
and so to write plays for eventual use as to
when the
children are handsome but strangely quiet.
Perhaps that style and is the result of their heritage far in the dark years
when the tribe was hunted children were trained from infancy never to betray their
precious they're taught at an early age to care for their younger brothers
and sisters
and irresponsibility is great for a man is not the only creature who prefers to
live on the high dry hammocks of the swamp
that I am back rattler is a persistent vicious intruder
and these deadly poison the snakes are not suspect as of AIDS.
Terminals independent of spirit is legend before a great net will stand still for
half a century to remain free he learned to survive in the swamp is proud aloof.
I knew but in the Indian culture there is a symbol
that spells peace goodwill Brotherhood
tobacco at all with these good things in the life of the Indian It is always.
Meant the softening of heart
and it has not lost its meaning the day the Indian
gave tobacco to the world.
This man remembers
when a ceremonial pipe smoked in council signified the presence of a virtuous bond
between men
when Columbus came he found the Indian smoking with a hollow forked stick called
the tobacco. It was from this primitive type that are boggled
and not from the leaf itself the tobacco got its name
and today the seminal bottles the cigarette from civilization
and he finds it serves him well the sewing machine is a second
device they have accepted from the white man's world
and operated models are found in virtually every chickie in the Everglades this
instrument has become the vehicle for their original Are they so brilliant
geometric designs on narrow bands
and working together to make striking spurts behind
the dazzling result of hours of intense labor and incredible patience
and skill civilization's
most extraordinary gift in the air about this flat bottomed craft present are the
Indian with the power of the birds
and the fish seven by an airplane of a fellow about you cannot
fall in the weeds it travels forty mph in one foot of water as smooth over
glass.
Lulu's moon.
Yes. Scientists cut his weed chain
and set him free made him the undisputed master of the high O.T.
The headlight is the fourth device he accepts
that gives him a strange hypnotic power
when he glides over the swamp in such a frog the light holds them transfixed raises
them as a spear darts among them
and brings in as many as a hundred in one catch frogs
legs are a delicacy and a man but the Great was awful tell by bring a good price
and help the seminal earn a living
but he wouldn't consider eating one on
Saturday afternoon the frog or the air about what up there in the time.
Ion they are now today. He has business in the white man's world.
My army and the seminar was language it means literally very large
and indeed it is the largest place he has ever seen or dreamed
that he comes here to the fisheries to sell his promise
but his business done he walked through the city gravely contemplating this place
of promise concrete yet as
it's all inspiring view.
And now
and again he will find a friendly face off side auspice other words
there are moments in this place called very large in which he doesn't feel so small
all alone
but mostly the Seminole in the city feels trapped
and set off one must be wary for surely there is more danger here than in the great
swamp. Yes this most self-contained
and fearless of mortals tread softly among the tall buildings confounded by the
restrictions he finds on every side
and at night he walks the city as in a dream the air is charged with them missing
like millions of multicolored eyes blinked with such very of other things seen only
men to see of the night this not for him some things he would take from the white
man's well but this he rejects and he goes home content
that up a hierarchy.
Today the seminal is again a hunted man but now it is the engineer
and the promise of penetrate the great swamp that drainage canals lacerate.
The landscape
that touches burn off the stubborn brush backgrounding tractors ready the soil of a
plant.
Yes The Everglades are disappearing where there was wilderness yesterday today
there are battles to morrow crops each year of hours of a cursor come to the white
man's genius citrus fruits glimmer in the warm sunshine hanging heavy on the bow.
This is gold for the white.
But for the Seminole it is a symbol marking the twilight of his world
along the tourist route for South Florida one may discern the decay of a proud way
of life. But even in decay.
The seminal displays the courage
and dignity intrinsic to an alligator
wrestling is extremely hazardous
that could be a fatal slip before the reptile is brought to sleep
yet even in the case he displays the product is of a tragic hero
the force which once was his bitter enemy has today become the Seminoles great
friend of the United States office of Indian Affairs the way they gently at Fort
Myers offers the tribe positive assistance.
The superintendent
and Indian himself is the instrument of the government's patient
and enlightened policy he can only offer assistance only invite the Indians to live
on a reservation
at Brighton reservation Simoneau children come out of a hammock to attend the day
school here under competent teachers they will be better equipped for contact with
the white man's world at school
they are fed well Balliol often these children succeed in persuading their parents
living proof the family diet.
Lib who
together with education is a cornerstone of the government's Indian program at
De Niro reservation seminar mothers bring their children to the government plenty
economical as the government is endeavoring with much success to launch the
Seminole in the cattle business at Big Cypress
reservation. Where once there was swamp where once a hunting
and fishing culture was possible the Seminole is reaping the harvest of the rate
spreading by the historic occasion.
It marks a division a profit
and the repayment of the government's flow the enterprise
later in open meeting the government's policy was reviewed and approved.
Then the leader of this tape of the Christian minister called upon them to face
that changing world.
He read in the great transition for which the seminal is passing the promise of a
better life.
He saw the need for spiritual help as well as for the great gifts of government
but this too would come to the swamp people he saw a vision a promise poised about
the saw grass and the whispering waters. He saw hope enough of high low key.