SMITHSONIAN EXPLORATIONS, I93O 



199 



When the two men just mentioned are gone, Tunica also will proba- 

 bly go, but the speech of the Koasati who live near Kinder (fig. 175) 

 will have a considerably longer lease of life since it is spoken by 60 or 

 70 individuals of both sexes. The writer worked about 10 days with 

 Jackson Langley, chief of this group, collecting bits of information 

 regarding the ancient life of his people, native texts, and a consid- 

 erable vocabulary of the language. Although an interesting variety of 

 speech, it is not so unique as either Chitimacha or Tunica, for it is 



Fig. 175. — A group of boys belonging to the Koasati Indian tribe. 

 (Photograph by Miss C. Dormon.) 



a sister tongue to Alabama which is still used by about 200 Indians, 

 and is also related to Choctaw and Creek. The Alabama and Koasati 

 Indians both came from the State which bears the name of the former, 

 and they are quite late intruders west of the Mississippi River. 



From the above narrative it is evident that the work of the ethnolo- 

 gist in Louisiana is urgent, and that it must soon be replaced by that 

 of the archeologist for whom the State may prove to be an even richer 

 field. Near the Tunica reservation at Marksville is a group of mounds 

 which was partially explored by Mr. Gerard Fowke for the Bureau 



