San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1894-12-01
THE ALABAMA INDIANS.
Remnants of the Tribe Located in
the State of Texas.
Engaged In Agriculture and Industrious
Workers - Some of the Queer
Customs Stin in Vogue
Among Them.

The remnant of the Alabama tribe
which migrated to the Trinity river re-
igSoD early in the present century, is a
branch of the Creek nation, and is in
farRiXed with few COshattas and
NDscOgees They speak three differ
emf languages, all evidently dialects of
the Creek, and most of them under
stnnd the Mobile tongue, or servite
Choctaw, which, like the French of Eu-
rope, was the universal language
smong the tribes and their usual means
of communication with the whites.
The remnant of this race, says the
Chicago Tribune, now numbers about
"a hundred. Their crops are principally
cultivated for their own use, rather
Than for sale. Indian corn is the
principal, although many of them
plant potatoes, and all of them vege-
tables and they usually fill their
1siEages with fruit trees. During the
ssrzson of cultivation they remain
closely at home, working Industrious
3y. and hunting only at such times as
they have leisure from their crops.
But when everything has been
az their granaries is closed to exclude
hight and air as a guard against weevil
then comes the return to Indian life
AND Indian enjoyment. They break up
5sr1o hunting parties after the Arab
Sasshion, taking with them their wives
and children, their horses and tents,
and household utensils. They seek the
Wild pine forests. away from the settle
bseDts, and work their way in the dense
ssanebrakes along the rivers which
white men rarely if ever penetrate.
gEkey soon fill their camps with game,
and alone with themselves and nature,
ever safe from the intrusion of supe-
rinr and conQuering race. they enjoy
she realization of Indian life as it was
rSefOre the white man discovered their
country. When weary of the chase,
aspr satisfied with its results, they return
10 their villages their horses laden with
dried meat. deerskins to be dressed for
the market, and bears oil in skins for
their own use or for sale. These ex-
cnrSions occupy their time until the
season comes for repairing their fences
and making ready for their crops,
when they all return home cheerful
and contented to begin the routine for
another year.
Like other Indians they have that
Fatal passion for ardent spirits which
seems destined to be their extermina-
ti0p- Bnt it is generally kept within
bounds, as they do not drink habitual-
~ a constitutional depression of spir-
its 10 which they are peculiarly sub
1eet- or an overflow of social feeling on
the reunion with friends returning
from their hunting excursions, usually
leads to a debauch. One after anoth-
eer is drawn in and the revel sometimes
extends over two or three days and
nights. When it is over they carefully
Aefaee all traces of their dissipation,
dress themselves handsomely, return to
their usual avocations, and for long
time drink nothing intoxicating.
They have wild, irregular code of
dneling of their own and are always
ready to throw away life on point of
honor, and do it with GOODNESS and
Indifference which would excite the
envy of a white advocate of the code.
In fact, they do not seem to feel any
distinctive dread of death. They speak
of IL with as much indifference as of
=kGy tnture event and meet it apparent
Nv without fear or reluctance.
When their crops are worked to a
point of safety they are willing to help
1hetr white friends At farms where
they are kindly treated and where they
End it.agreeable to stay they work at
SzGderate wages, and during the cotton
SEASON give important aid. Cotton
packing is their favorite work, Their
small hands and 1.-THE and agile forms
glide through the cotton without
breaking or otherwise injuring it. As
they pick by weight and are permitted
10 choose their own time of work, this
leaves them that freedom of action
they prize so highly. They pick very
neatly and carefully, attend strictly to
the instructions oftheir employers, and
In this, as in all their relations with the
whites who treat them kindly, are uni
fOrmly DESTROYS to please.
Etiquette with them requires the wife
TO wait on the husband. This rule is
not allowed to bear heavily upon the
woman, however. What time the hus-
hand can spare from his own peculiar
duties is spent in sharing and tighten
Eng the labors of his wife. And some
Of them will not permit their wives to
work at all.