Year: 1874




if | can get half a dozen of these boatmer
to go to work and build house to put tn,
goods in, its bargain


In three days had sufficient shelter t,
land the goods, and we commenced max
ing the new invoices. 1t took us ten days
The Indians had heard of the great new
store, and they besieged it by hundreds.
was compelled to appropriate three hour.
every day to let them have goods, and by
the time we had completed the invoices
had sold enough and received the silver fol
it, to pay the first installments, and at the
nine months inStallment finished up witt
Caldwell. and had been with my boat two
trips to Mobile. | continued to trade with
the Indians, and when in 1929 the Tennes
seeans came and filled up the country,
moved my stock of Indian goods into the
Choctaw nation. Went into partnership
with half-breed Choctaw, and we were
doing very well four years until he privately
went into partnership with a Quaker and
set up store at Cottongin Port, to trade
with the Chickesaw nation Of Indians.


There occurred notable circumstance
during my residence in the Choctaw nation
that would do to place in this portion of
narrative. From my first hunting excur-
sioh in this new country and up to the
time | went to live in the nation, | had dis
covered many earth mounds. They were
commonly about forty feet base, comic in
form and seven to eight feet in height. AS
soon as | could speak the language suffi
ciently, inquired of the middle aged men
among the Indians who it was that had
built up the numerous mounds that en-
bossed the country. The reply was: " They
were always here" | interrogated some
quite old men on the subject The answer
was the same, "They were always here"
But these men told me, and so did every
body else of whom l made inquiries in ref
erence to the monumental remains that
occurred so frequent in the land, that on
Bogue Tuculo, forty miles distant, there
lived the oldest man in the world; 4 man
that knew everything; if | would go and
see him he could tell me all about the
mounds, and every thing else might de-
sire to know about the traditional history
of the Choctaw people. So many of them
telling of this man | concluded to 90 and
see him. l arranged my business SO l
could leave it a few days and set out to see
the wise old man that all the Indians told
me of. Sure enough, found the intelli-
gent old man residing, as they said, on
Bogue Tuculo; but such man as he was





dwelt in very comfortable, though SMALL
circular dirt house, with small hole in
the apex through which the smoke from
his fire ION the ground floor in the center
below made it's escape. A small, smooth
round pole extended from its attachment
to the facing on the side of the door way,
to his cane bunk, the front side of which
rested on two posts that were planted in
the earth while the other side of the bunk
rested on fastenings in the dirt wall. The
floor or bottom of the bunk or bed place
was neatly filled with selected straight
cane, lcut to fit the frame work. This was
his sleeping place, and his bedding con-
sisted of a variety of dry skins with the
hair still on them-buffelo, bear, panther,
DEER wild cat skins, and some blankets
The deer skins were most numerous.
Here he slept, and by the aid of the before
named pole or hand, rail, he could make his
way to the door where, in pleasant weather
he spent most of his time in sitting on a
bench that had been prepared for the pur-
pose. where he could look out upon the lit
tie village and its surrounding scenery;
see the play of the numerous village chill
dren; the running to and fro of the busy
women while beating meal for bread and
dressing the skins which had been supplied
to them by the hunters. Such was the visi-
BILE aspect and condition of things in the
little Indian town at the time arrived, on
my first visit to the door of the dirt house,
wherein resided the old man Chah- ta- i'm
mia ta- hah. There he sat on his time pol
ished pine bench by the side of the door,
his unclad lower extremities extending at
full length in front, his feet dry and scaly,
toes contracted and crumped up, and his
rel in nf
shriveled skin beneath his bony lengs. His
long, bony fingers were wrapped around
neat, smooth rod, six or seven feet in
length with hook at one end. which he
used for the purpose of dragging up his
things that might lie out of reach, and to
hook by their garments and pull into cap
tivity the little children when he was play
ing with them. His upper extremities and
his body were covered with an ordin nary
cotton shirt which constituted his entire
clothing. At the time | rode up, he was
sitting still, with the exception of his large
head which was covered with a heavy coat
of not very long. iron-gray hair, and his
brilliant, smiling eyes. Every part of his
person seemed to be worn out and power
less. l spoke to him in his own tongue
inquiring if he was Chah ia mia hah. To
which he replied in plain English, That $
my name, sir" upon which | informed
him, still addressing him in his own lam
guage, that | had long desired and had now
come great ways to see and have talk
with him in relation to the traditional his
tory of the Chahta people and the origin of
the monumental remains which are found
so extensively distributed over the coun-
try. He smiled and bid me welcome
remalking that he was not only willing,
: ge1A 4 - H..
tunity to communicate the traditional his
tory of his people to man whom he felt sure
after hearing it would feel sufficient interest
i'll it to write it on paper and take care of it,
and he based his opinion on the fact that |
had travelled SO far to hear it. He would
not only repeat the traditional account of
the origin, progress, manners customs,
wars, etc, of the Chahtas, but he would
certainly satisfy me as to the cause and by
whom the mounds were built. After a
short pause he resumed and said: I" If it is
to make book you are seeking this infor-
nation, | shall be still more highly pleased,
and will take great pains to narrate the
whole of our traditional history" l in
formed him frankly that to collect material
of which to make book was the object of
my visit; that | had been told by a great
number of his people that he was the only
man now living that could tell me, and on
that account alone | had called on him.
" You have,' said he, "been correctly
intormed-I am, and l regret that it is
true, the only man left who can repeat cor
rectly the Shuk-hah an nmpula (hog talk
the traditions) and because you will write
my talk after have passed away to the
good hunting ground, | am proud of you
and glad that you have come.


He then rehearsed part of his own his
tory, concluding with, - have always
advocated honesty and fairness. Have
never been drunk, have never swallowed a
drop of the strong water; have always
been sober, speaking to the people in earn
est, telling truth


And then for the purpose of starting
him on the subject of the traditions, l in
quired of him how the notion had origi-
mated and obtained with SO many of the
people. that the Chahtas came out of Mar
rihwaya hill? He replied, "They have
been drunk ever since the white people
came amongs. us, and they have lost the
truth"


"Long time ago, before the white man
came, it was a custom with the old men,
when they had, from age and decrepitude
becOme too inactive to uurSup the chase