16 Notices of ihe Chactaw Tribe 



moons, and frequent the grave every morning. The friends were 

 hired to lament on this occasion. 



In 1820, I witnessed the war-dance of this tribe. A party had 

 returned from the west bank of the Mississippi, from an engage- 

 ment which they had with the Osages, (called Wasashe by them ;) 

 they had twenty scalps with them as trophies of their victory. It 

 happened that a number of the tribe were at the Walnut HiUs, 

 where I then resided, so that I had an opportunity of seeing this 

 ceremony, which was performed principally by the women. They 

 each held in their hands a cane three feet in length, with the scalps 

 of their enemies attached to round pieces of buffalo hide, the whole 

 fastened to the canes. From them a number of pieces of red 

 binding or ferret were suspended. An Indian was placed in 

 the centre of the women, in a sitting posture, having an iron pot 

 with raw hide stretched across it, like a drum. Upon this he beat 

 and sung the war tune, the women dancing and singing around 

 him. The women were arranged according to their ages : the men 

 formed themselves into a line. The chief related in a low tone of 

 voice a circumstantial detail of the battle. When he mentioned 

 the names of those who had fallen, the shrieks of the women were 

 wild and terrific : a hideous howling to lament the friends they 

 had lost succeeded. This war-dance continued for three days. 



The language of the Chactaws has been termed Floridian, dif- 

 fering only in dialect from that of the Cherokees, Chickasaws, 

 Creeks, and Seminoles. 



It may be noted that they express a great deal by signs. For in- 

 stance, by pointing to the rising and setting sun, they mean a pe- 

 riod of one day. They cannot enumerate more than ten, or rather 

 they have not words to express more than that number. Their 

 language is transposed, like the Latin. 



Chaufa signifies One. 



Tuckelo ... Two. 



Touchena ... Three. 



Ousta ... Four. 



Tushlaba ... Five. 



Senale . . . Six. 



Wanale ... Seven. 



Chuckale ... Eight. 



Enale . . . Nine. 



Pecole ... Ten. 



They then multiply, by saying oua chaufa, ten and one is eleven, 

 and so on to a hundred. 



Knockena signifies a man. 



Tike ... a woman. 



Hock suraa ... tobacco. 



Shoukaba ... a blanket. 



Pouska ... bread 



