STUDIES AMONG THE CHOCTAW OF MISSISSIPPI 

 AND THE CREEKS OF OKLAHOMA 



By JOHN R. SWANTON, 



Ethnologist, Bureau of American Elhnolouy 



In the neighborhood of Philadelphia, Mississippi, live the descen- 

 dants of those Choctaw who chose to remain in their ancient territo- 

 ries after the treaty of Dancing Rabbit instead of moving into the lands 

 intended for them in what is now southeastern Oklahoma. Today they 

 number about 1,200 in spite of several later emigrations, and among 

 them are to be found the most conservative of the nation, because 

 forced emigration after white contact always tends to destroy the 

 continuity of the trilml tradition and paves the way for the disruption 

 of the old order. The first two weeks of my 1929 field-work were 

 devoted to interviewing a few of those old Choctaw Indians who still 

 remember the ancient customs of the tribe. With the information, 

 thus obtained, I corrected and amplified notes made during a previous 

 visit. 



I took the opportunity also to revisit the famous hill of Nanih 

 Waiya. out of which according to certain native legends the Choctaw 

 originally came. A cave within a short distance of this mound may 

 have played some part in localizing the myth of origins there, and the 

 resemblance between the names Nanih Waiya, " Bending Hill," and 

 Nanih Waya, " Hill Bringing Forth." may also have contributed to 

 this identification. As a matter of fact the hill is artificial and at one 

 time probably carried the communal Iniildings of some Indian town. 

 It was surrounded by a stockade, traces of which are still to be seen. 

 Nanih Waiya has been mentioned before in the Smithsonian annual 

 exploration pamphlets, both l)y myself and by Mr. Henry B. Collins, 

 Jr., and views of it may he seen in the pamphlet for 1918 and that 

 for 1925. My work at F'hiladelphia was furthered in every way by 

 the Agent for the Eastern Choctaw, Dr. Robert A. Enochs, to whom 

 I am particularly indebted. 



After leaving Philadelphia, I spent a few days in Jackson, Miss., 

 consulting manuscripts in the Department of Archives and History at 

 the State Capitol, where, as on former occasions, I was most hos- 

 pitably entertained by the Custodian of the Archives and State His- 

 torian, Dr. Dunbar Rowland. 



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