68 [lOO) TRANS. ST. LOUIS ACAD. SCIENCE. 



The high antiquity of the legend appears from the circumstance 

 tliat the tribe appears throughout as one total or a single unit, for 

 the names of the chiefs or leaders have been obliterated by length 

 of time. A chief is mentioned but once, and without name; 

 it was when they were advised by him that the red arrows shot 

 back were not a good sign. The constant recurrence of the " sa- 

 cred" number ^oa;-, the comparative paucity of local names, as 

 well as the lack of any distinct chronologic data about the begin- 

 ning or end of the migration, — all this testifies to its archaic 

 origin. 



The legend in its present form is fragmentary. This appears 

 from the extremely short manner by which the puskita and its 

 origin, the medicinal herbs, and the restless pole, are mentioned, 

 of their importance for the migration can be collected only from 

 the parallel Maskoki legends. On the other side, the stories re- 

 ferring to the "man-eater," the large blue bird, etc., are recounted 

 at full length. 



The purpose of Tchikilli's narrative is twofold : i. It endeavors 

 to report the origin of certain war- and peace-customs, sacrificial 

 acts, and the use of remedial herbs ; 2. it attempts to trace the 

 path followed by the immigrating tribe. — Kasi'hta and Kawita 

 were originally red towns^ and the customs of a white or peace 

 town (when explained in a similar narrative) would probably 

 have differed entirely from the above. The further back into 

 antiquity these customs could be traced, the more sacred they ap- 

 peared to the people composing the tribe. 



After divesting the Kasi'hta legend of its non-historic and poetic 

 attire, or, to use an expression which is much more to the point, 

 of all the miraculous humbug added to it by later myth-makers 

 and conjurers, the few historic facts forming the foundation of it 

 may be summed up as follows : 



The legend does not relate, nor pretend to relate, the migration 

 of all Creek tribes, but only that of the Kasi'hta tribe, from which 

 the Kawita subsequently branched off'. Of other Creek tribes 



