NO. 8 CREEK SQUARE GROUNDS S WANTON 9 



determined by the individual ability — usually military — of those who 

 belonged to them. Thus a man might start his public career as a 

 common warrior or tasikaia, a word now often translated " citizen," 

 be promoted to the position of an imata labotski, or " Little Imala," 

 then to that of an imala lako, or " Big Imala," and finally become a 

 tastanagi. or " war leader." If sufficiently prominent he might be 

 made a tastanagi lako or holibonaia, " war speaker," though of these 

 there was never more than one in a town at any one time. There 

 were " beds " or seats in the square grounds for each of these classes, 

 but not all were promoted into them. Men who belonged to the clan 

 of the chief (miko) would be given seats in his section and form 

 the mikalgi, " chiefs," who acted as a kind of special executive 

 council. If they belonged to a certain clan known as henlhalgi, they 

 would be given seats in another place. The functions of the henlhalgi 

 are somewhat uncertain but they were concerned largely with the 

 maintenance of peace and charged themselves with the internal 

 prosperity of the tribe. The henlhalgi were almost always formed 

 of the Wind clan, and if, for any reason, the Wind clan could not 

 be used, the Bird or Beaver, or at least some clan considered White, 

 would take their place. There was also a class of men called ist- 

 atcagagi, the old, experienced men from all tribes, retired from 

 active service but keepers of the trilial lore. It seems fairly evident 

 that a correlation existed anciently between White towns. White 

 clans, and the henlhalgi, and that the miko of a White town was 

 generally chosen from a White clan. It is even possible that the 

 miko of a Red town was formerly chosen from a White clan. 

 Certainly there is a marked tendency to choose chiefs from the Bear 

 clan, even in Red towns, though many of them are also from the 

 Raccoon and the Aktayatci. 



A word must now be said regarding the ceremonial grounds. 

 Originally every Creek town had such a ground which at a still earlier 

 period was probably the ceremonial ground of a small tribe. As a 

 tribe increased in numbers, however, the ground often l)ecame too 

 small to accommodate all of its members comfortably and so it split 

 into two or more. Undoubtedly, before the organization of the 

 Creek Confederation, there was great diversity among these grounds 

 and a certain element of diversity has persisted until the present day, 

 i)ut on the other hand considerable standardization has undoubtedly 

 taken place. Creek legend asserts that the first ceremonial ground 

 was given to the Coweta, the Kasihta, or the Tukabahchee by the 

 Breath Controller or by other sui)crnatural beings, and copied by the 

 remaining towns from them. While this represents a modern 



