2 BUEEAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bull. 48 



the same language, probably with only slight local variations. Their 

 manners and customs, in all probability, were similar to a great 

 extent. 



One of the earliest definite references to the region is contained in 

 the Relation of Penicaut," touching on a period when there was a 

 general movement among the" Southern tribes. It is stated thus: 



At this same time [1705] the Colapissas, who dwelt on a little river called Talcatcha, 

 four leagues distant from the shore of Lake Pontchartrain, went to live on its banks at 

 the place named Castembayouque. 



The river "Talcatcha " is the present Pearl river, and, as will be seen, 

 the distance of the "Colapissas" village up the river from Lake 

 Pontchartrain is the same as that of the present Choctaw settlement. 

 The Choctaw name of their own settlement is Hatcha, a name applied 

 also to Pearl river. This name is clearly a contraction of the word 

 Talcatcha recorded by Penicaut. 



Moving from Pearl river about the year 1705, the "Colapissas" 

 went to "Castembayouque." Here, again, is a name similar to the 

 present Choctaw designation of a bayou a few miles west of Bayou 

 Lacomb. On the maps this is now designated Castine bayou; but to 

 the Choctaw it is still known as Caste bayou, caste being the Choctaw 

 word for "flea;" the bayou, they say, is thus named on account 

 of the large number of fleas found near its mouth and on its banks. 



On the Ross map of 1765, a small portion of which is reproduced in 

 plate 2, the site of an old town of the "Colapissas" is indicated near 

 the mouth of Pearl river, evidently too far south. 



West of Pearl river, on the same map, is "Kefonctei R," the 

 present Chefuncte river (from the Choctaw word for "cliinkapin"). 

 The short stream entering Lake Pontchartrain between the two 

 rivers is evidently intended to represent Bayou Lacomb, as the 

 olcation is correct. 



The next river westward on the Ross map is the "Tanzipao," the 

 present Tangipahoa, flowing through the parish of the same name, 

 which bounds St. Tammany parish on the west. The name is 

 derived from the two Choctaw words, toncJie, "corn," and 'palioha, 

 "cob" or "inside;" it was literally translated by them "corncob." 



During his extended tour through the southern part of the country 

 Bartram traversed Lake Pontchartrain, to which he makes the fol- 

 lowing reference:^ 



Next day [circa June, 1777] early we got under way, pursuing our former course, 

 nearly Westward ; keeping the North shore [of Pontchartrain] several leagues . . . 

 [we] set sail again, and came up to the mouth of the beautiful Taensapaoa, which 

 takes that name from a nation of Indians, who formerly possessed the territories lying 

 on its banks, which are fertile and delightful regions. 



aMargry, D(?couvertes, v, 459, Paris, 1883. 



b William Bartram, Travels through North and South Carolina, etc., 422, London, 1792. 



