Connecticut western news., 1886-10-13
THE CHOCTAWS.
Something A bout the Indians
 of Indian Territory.
Their Language the Best for Oratorical
 Purposes in the World.


 Indian Territory, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church, said in the course of recent interview with an Indian apolis Journal reporter:
 "Thc Choctaw is fine sounding tongue, declared by Walter Lowry, once United States senator. and fully cap- abe of judging, as being the finest language in the world for oratory. It is easy to learn enough of it for trading purposes, but to learn it thoroughly is very difficult. It has more words than most Indian tongues, the lexicon con- taining about 10000. The Choctaws for over fifty years have had publications in their language. They use the Roman alphabet, with some modifca- tions. There are twenty-two letters. They now have regular representative form of government, and have had for many years. Their principal chief is Edmund McCurtain. This officer is elected every two years. Thomas Nc Kinney has recently been elected his suc- cessor. The Choctaw capital is Tush- kahomma. They have general council, consisting of senate and house of rep resentatives, and have county, district and supreme courts. The Choctaw na- tion had the prohibitory liquor law thirty years before Maine, and it was in their constitution thirty years before Kansas had it. It is enforced fairly we'll, par ticularly as the United States intercourse laws prohibit the introduction of intoxi- eating liquors into the territory. As to the general laws of the nation, they are not as we'll enforced as they might be.
 ''One of their young men, brother of the recently elected principal chief, graduated at Yale divinity school last spring. The fact that white man by marrying native woman, se- cures the rights of Q citizen in the na- tion is strong inducement to many men to intcrmary with the Choctaws. This, in course of time, will eliminate the Choctaw blood and bring about solu- ton of the Indian question so far as they are concerned. Of the five civilized tribes of the Indian territory it has been found by enumeration that 55 per cent. of them can real. The proportion oi the Cherokees who can read, as com pared with the Choctaws, is greater than that of tho latter nation, while the Creeks who can read are fewer in mum Der than the Choctaws. Sequoya, ol George Guess, as he was called, was { Choctaw, who invented syllable alpha. bet for his people. It contains eighty five characters, and to read, all one need do is to mention the names of the letters. A smart Cherokee will learn te read in few hours. Sequoya formed 6 better alphabet for them than white man could have made. The Choctav alphabet is phonetic, and therefor learned with greater ease than English suppose that fully 10, 900 of the Choc- taw nation do not understand English
 "The Choctaws live almost wholly b, agriculture. They are all farmers ane generally poor farmers, though some o them are quite good. A few are larg farmers. There is an erroneous impress sion concerning Indian territory. Tn land is not, as many suppose, very fer tile. There is great deal of waste lant there and great deal of poor land There is consid erable admixture o white blood with the Indian race, ant it is constantly increasing. Tn Choctaw lands are held in common, ant white man, by intermarriage, get Choctaw citizenship and equal rights il land, holding them as long as he doe not marry white woman. The nativ population of the nation is between t, 900 and 14,O0O. They have tw boarding schools, each with one hundre' pupils-one at Spencer for boys and on at New Hope for girls. They have a orphan school at Whcelock for boys It has fifty pupils, and similar schoe for girls at Wheelock has fifty pupils They are paying much attention to edu cation. There Is a provision for neigh | borhood schools that wherever there ar ten pupils a school may be established the teachers to be paid $2 month fo each pupil. The law makes attendanc of children at school compulsory | parents being fined for not sending thei children.
 ''The Choctaws arc generally quie and orderly, except when under the ill fluence of liquor. There have been
 greater number of crimes since the wal owing to feuds originating then. The wear citizens dress, and only in colo would be distinguished from white peo pie. They-no longer wear mocassins ( hunting shirts. Since 1 have been bacl Ihavc not seen more than Half a doze hunting shirts. The old shawl heat dress, once so popular among them, h. been given up. There are no oIankt Indians among them. Their dwelling arc mostly log cabins; few have yer good dwellings. Scarcely any of thel now pretend to make q living by hunt