The
Ais, or
Ays were a tribe of
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
. They ranged from present day
Cape CanaveralCape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that state's Atlantic coast 45 minutes East of Orlando by car. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it sits due east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana...
to the
St. Lucie InletThe St. Lucie Inlet, Florida is located between Hutchinson Island and Jupiter Island in Martin County, Florida, at coordinates . The St. Lucie Inlet is one of six inlets into the Indian River Lagoon....
, in the present day counties of
BrevardBrevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521. Influenced by the presence of the John F...
,
Indian RiverIndian River County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 112,947. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 128,594 . Its county seat is Vero Beach, Florida.- History :...
,
St. LucieSt. Lucie County is a county located in the state of Florida. The county seat is the City of Fort Pierce. As of 2000, the population was 192,695. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county was 241,305.- History :...
and northernmost
MartinMartin County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 126,731. The U.S. Census Bureau 2008 estimate for the county is 138,660. Its county seat is Stuart, Florida.- History :...
. They lived in villages and towns along the shores of the great lagoon called
Rio de Ais by the Spanish, and now called the
Indian RiverThe Indian River is a waterway in Florida, a part of the Indian River Lagoon system which forms the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It extends from the border between Brevard and Volusia Counties southward along the western shore of Merritt Island, picking up the Banana River on the island's south...
.
Little is known of the origins of the Ais, or of the affinities of their language.
The
Ais, or
Ays were a tribe of
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
who inhabited the Atlantic Coast of
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
. They ranged from present day
Cape CanaveralCape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that state's Atlantic coast 45 minutes East of Orlando by car. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it sits due east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana...
to the
St. Lucie InletThe St. Lucie Inlet, Florida is located between Hutchinson Island and Jupiter Island in Martin County, Florida, at coordinates . The St. Lucie Inlet is one of six inlets into the Indian River Lagoon....
, in the present day counties of
BrevardBrevard County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida, along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2007 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the population is 536,521. Influenced by the presence of the John F...
,
Indian RiverIndian River County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 112,947. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 128,594 . Its county seat is Vero Beach, Florida.- History :...
,
St. LucieSt. Lucie County is a county located in the state of Florida. The county seat is the City of Fort Pierce. As of 2000, the population was 192,695. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county was 241,305.- History :...
and northernmost
MartinMartin County is a county in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 126,731. The U.S. Census Bureau 2008 estimate for the county is 138,660. Its county seat is Stuart, Florida.- History :...
. They lived in villages and towns along the shores of the great lagoon called
Rio de Ais by the Spanish, and now called the
Indian RiverThe Indian River is a waterway in Florida, a part of the Indian River Lagoon system which forms the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. It extends from the border between Brevard and Volusia Counties southward along the western shore of Merritt Island, picking up the Banana River on the island's south...
.
Little is known of the origins of the Ais, or of the affinities of their language. The Ais language has been tentatively assigned by some authors to the
Muskogean language familyMuskogean is an indigenous language family of the Southeastern United States. Though there is an ongoing debate concerning their interrelationships, the Muskogean languages are generally divided into two branches, Eastern Muskogean and Western Muskogean...
, and by others to the
Arawakan language familyThe Arawakan languages are an indigenous language family of South America and the Caribbean....
.
Observations on the appearance, diet and customs of the Ais at the end of the 17th Century are found in
Jonathan DickinsonJonathan Dickinson , was a Quaker merchant from Port Royal, Jamaica who was shipwrecked on the southeast coast of Florida in 1696, along with his family and the other passengers and crew members of the ship....
's
Journal. Dickinson and his party were shipwrecked, and spent several weeks among the Ais in 1696. By Dickinson's account, the chief of the town of Jece, near present day
Vero BeachVero Beach is a city in Indian River County, Florida, USA. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 16,939. It is the county seat of Indian River County...
, was paramount to all of the coastal towns from the Jaega town of Jobe (at Jupiter Inlet) in the south to approximately
Cape CanaveralCape Canaveral, from the Spanish Cabo Cañaveral, is a headland in Brevard County, Florida, United States, near the center of that state's Atlantic coast 45 minutes East of Orlando by car. Known as Cape Kennedy from 1963 to 1973, it sits due east of Merritt Island, separated from it by the Banana...
in the north (that is, the length of the
River of Ais).
The Ais had considerable contact with
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus Mountains , and the Black Sea to the southeast...
ans by this time.
SpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
had established some control over the coast, with the Ais regarding the Spanish as
comerradoes and non-Spanish Europeans as enemies. A number of Ais men knew a little
SpanishSpanish or Castilian is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that originated in northern Spain and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile, evolving into the principal language of government and trade in the Iberian peninsula...
, and a patrol of
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
soldiers from
St. AugustineSt. Augustine is the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, in the United States. Founded in 1565, it is the oldest continuously occupied European established city, and the oldest port, in the continental United States. St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as The First Coast, which...
arrived in Jece while the Dickinson party was there. There was one man in Jece who had been taken away on an English ship to work as a diver on a wreck east of
CubaThe Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. It consists of the island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city. Cuba is home to over 11 million people and is...
. He got away when the ship put in for water in Cuba, and had made his way back to his home via Havana and St. Augustine. The Ais had many European artifacts from ship wrecks. As there was a group from another English shipwreck in Jece when the Dickinson party reached the town, it may be presumed that European and African survivors of shipwrecks were fairly common along the coast. There was also some trade with St. Augustine. Dickinson reports that one man of Jece had approximately five pounds of
ambergrisAmbergris is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray or blackish color produced in the digestive system of sperm whales.Ambergris has a peculiar sweet, earthy odor...
, and that he "boasted that when he went for Augustine with that, he would purchase of the Spaniards a looking-glass, an axe, a knife or two, and three or four
mannocoes (which is about five or six pounds) of tobacco."
The Ais did not survive long after Dickinson's sojourn with them. Shortly after 1700 settlers in
CarolinaThe Province of Carolina from 1663 to 1712, was a colony of British America, controlled by the Lords Proprietary, a group of eight English noblemen led informally by member Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury...
started raiding the Ais to capture slaves. By 1743, when the
SpanishSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.
[The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though España , Estado español and Nación española are used interchangeably...]
established a mission among them, the Ais numbers were declining due to slave raids, disease and
rumRum is a distilled beverage made from sugarcane by-products such as molasses and sugarcane juice by a process of fermentation and distillation. The distillate, a clear liquid, is then usually aged in oak and other barrels...
. The Ais were gone from the area by 1760.
Diet
Dickinson stated that the Ais "neither sow nor plant any manner of thing whatsoever" (p. 36), but fished and gathered
palmetto-Botany:Members of several genera of small palms:*the genus Sabal, containing species such the Dwarf Palmetto and the Sabal palmetto*the Saw Palmetto, Serenoa repens*Silver palmetto *Silver saw palmetto...
, cocoplum and seagrape berries. Dickinson described the fishing technique of the neighboring Jaega people of Jobe thus:
- [T]he Casseekey
Cacique or Cazique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
[of Jobe] ... sent his son with his striking staff to the inlet to strike fish for us; which was performed with great dexterity; for some of us walked down with him, and though we looked very earnestly when he threw his staff from him could not see a fish at which time he saw it, and brought it onshore on the end of his staff. Sometimes he would run swiftly pursuing a fish, and seldom missed when he darted at him. In two hours time he got as many fish as would serve twenty men[.]
The Ais boiled their fish, and ate them from 'platters' of palmetto leaf:
- About noon was some fish brought us on small palmetto leaves, being boiled with scales, head and gills, and nothing taken from then but the gut[.]
Dickinson also recorded a gift of clams to his wife:
- This day the Cassekey [of Jece] ... made presents to some of us, especially to my wife; he gave her a parcel of shellfish, which are known by the name of clams; one or two he roasted and gave her, showing that she must serve the rest so, and eat them.
The Ais dried some of the berries they gathered for future use:
- This week we observed that great baskets of dried berries were brought in from divers towns and delivered to the king or Young Caseekey [of Jece.]
Dickinson does not say anything about the Ais hunting, but they did use deer skins, and the neighboring Jaega people of Jobe gave the Dickinson party a hog they had killed.
Clothing
The Ais men wore a "loincloth" of woven palm leaves. Dickinson describes this as:
- being a piece of platwork of straws wrought of divers colors and of a triangular figure, with a belt of four fingers broad of the same wrought together, which goeth about the waist and the angle of the other having a thing to it, coming between the legs, and strings to the end of the belt; all three meeting together are fastened behind by a horsetail, or a bunch of silkgrass exactly resembling it, of a flaxen color, this being all of the apparel or covering that the men wear.
He has little to say on how the women dressed, recording only that his wife and female slaves were given "raw deer skins" with which to cover themselves after their European clothing had been taken away. Women of the Tequesta tribe, to the south of the Ais, were reported to wear "shawls" made of woven palm leaves, and "skirts” made from draped fibers from the Spanish dagger (
YuccaThe yuccas comprise the genus Yucca of 40-50 species of perennials, shrubs, and trees in the agave family Agavaceae, notable for their rosettes of evergreen, tough, sword-shaped leaves and large terminal clusters of white or whitish flowers...
), similar to the "grass" skirts of Hawaii.
Housing
Dickinson states that the town of Jece "stood about half a mile from the seashore within the land on the sound, being surrounded with a swamp, in which grew
white mangroveLaguncularia racemosa is a species of flowering plant in the the Leadwood tree family, Combretaceae...
trees, which hid the town from the sea."
Dickinson describes the
CaciqueCacique or Cazique is a title derived from the Taíno word for the pre-Columbian chiefs or leaders of tribes in the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, and the northern Lesser Antilles...
's house in Santa Lucea as "about forty foot long and twenty-five foot wide, covered with palmetto leaves both top and sides. There was a range of cabins, or a barbecue on one side and two ends. At the entering on one side of the house a passage was made of benches on each side leading to the cabins."
Subject tribes
The Surruque to the north and the
JaegaThe Jaegas were a tribe of Native Americans living along the coast of present-day Martin County and Palm Beach County, Florida at the time of initial European contact, and until sometime in the 18th Century...
to the south were politically subordinate to the Ais.