4 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 85 



as two distinct tribes and it is possible that the one-tribe idea may 

 be the result of later rationalizing. The story goes that, having 

 defeated all of their enemies, the Kasihta and Coweta instituted 

 periodical ball games as a kind of "moral equivalent for war," and 

 afterwards, when either of them established relations of friendship 

 with other Indians, whether Muskogee or not, these Indians entered 

 on the same side as their friends so that this dual system soon 

 became general. 



One of these sides, that of Kasihta, came to be known as the 

 White or Peace side, though it did not receive that specific name ; 

 while the side of Coweta was the Red or War side. 



At the same early period the Muskogee entered into intimate 

 relations with the Apalachicola Indians, who spoke a dialect related 

 to Hitchiti. This was the outgrowth of a treaty of peace following 

 upon hostilities, or to avert threatened hostilities. The Apalachicola 

 were then taken into the Confederation on the same side as Kasihta. 

 In some particulars, however, they are held to have been more 

 representative of the White towns than Kasihta and for that reason 

 their settlement came to be called Talwa Lako, " Big Town." Indeed, 

 the migration legend related to Oglethorpe by Tchikilli implies that 

 Kasihta was at least partly Red, their hearts being " red on one side 

 and white on the other." However, in all later times Kasihta 

 assumes the leadership of the White towns among the Lower Creeks, 

 as does Coweta the leadership of the Red towns. Four having 

 been the sacred number — the sacred formulae being gone through 

 four times, four arbors or beds constituting the ceremonial buildings 

 in the square ground and four sticks the number employed in the 

 ceremonial fires — it is not surprising that the Creeks should select 

 two towns from the Upper Creeks, taken collectively, to add to 

 these two leading Lower Creek towns. The White towns of the 

 Upper Creeks were represented by Abihka, the Red towns by 

 Tukabahchee, the second being from that group I have called Middle 

 Creeks, the other from the northernmost bounds of the Nation. 

 These four towns were the " back sticks " of the Confederation, 

 and each had a special ceremonial name, viz., Kasihta Lako (" Rig 

 Kasihta"), Coweta Mahmayi ("Tall Coweta"), Tukabahchee 

 Tspokogi, and Abihka Nagi. Ispokogi was the name of the culture 

 heroes of the Tukabahchee and it may l)e a Shawnee term. It bears 

 a suspicious resemblance to that of the Kispokotha band of Shawnee. 

 I do not know the meaning of Nagi. The Abihka were also called 

 specifically " the door-shutters " because they protected the northern 

 frontier of the Confederation. 



