12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 85 



the entire Creek Nation. It was the position occupied by Hobohl} 

 Yahola, famous leader of the Creeks during their removal west and 

 all of their subsequent troubled history until the Civil War. He 

 was not a miko even of one town, but his influence was actually 

 greater than that of any miko, or any number of them. There were 

 two ta'pala, whose chief function was to act as messengers before 

 and during the women's dance, and there were two singers for the 

 women (inyahaikalgi, "singers for them"), who sat at the end of 

 one of the cabins just in front of the spot where the women began 

 dancing. They were usually selected for their knowledge of songs 

 rather than on account of their clan affiliations. The hilis haya was 

 the head priestly functionary. He supervised the preparation of the 

 medicines and gave them their final potency and he ordered 

 everything in any way touching upon the supernatural. He was 

 assisted by one or more men called hilis tcalaba or " medicine 

 mixers," whose functions are defined by the name, and by two or 

 more young men called hilis hoboia, " medicine gatherers," who 

 collected the red root, pasa, and other plants that went into the 

 sacred medicine. Some towns seem to have had a separate official 

 called tutka didja, " fire builder," to start the fire, but in others the 

 hilis haya did that, and there was instead a tutka oktididja, " gatherer 

 of wood " for the fire. A number of boys known as oidjawalgi 

 brought water for the medicines. In one town we learn of ahaga 

 haiyalgi, " law makers." who are said to carry out the instructions 

 of the tastanagis and may be identical with the imalas elsewhere 

 mentioned. There were also officers called simiabaia. or " leaders." 

 The hoktagi immiko, " chief of the women." and his heniha, may 

 have been identical with the ta'palas. Anciently the tastanagis and 

 their assistants acted as town police, but nowadays three or four 

 light horsemen are selected at random to police the square ground 

 during ceremonies, and there are boys called " dog whippers " with 

 long whips stationed at each opening into the square during the 

 women's dance to drive away dogs. Many of these officers were cliosen 

 for four years only. If one died before the expiration of his term, 

 a substitute was selected from the same clan, which seems to indicate 

 that the position was something of a clan prerogative. 



Of the ceremonies which took place on these grounds, only two 

 have survived. One, called by the popular local name of " stomp 

 dance," was confined to the people of the town and was simple in 

 character, the miko hoyanidja (red willow) being ordinarily the only 

 medicine used during it. There were no dances other than the common 

 and relativelv secular ones, no ceremonial lighting of the fires, no 



