68 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [BULL. 69 
were as much as 20 feet in length, were bent inward, thus meeting in 
the center of the frame, and were fastened. The poles along the 
sides were likewise bent in and so secured to the four principal sup- 
ports. The frame was then covered with a ‘‘mortar of mud mixed 
with Spanish beard, with which they fill up all the chinks, leaving no 
opening but the door, and the mud they cover both outside and inside 
with mats made of the splits of cane. The roof is thatched with turf 
and straw intermixed, and over all is laid a mat of canes, which is 
fastened to the tops of the walls by the creeping plant. These huts 
will last 20 years without any repairs.”” (Du Pratz, (1), I, pp. 224- 
225.) : 
Within the habitations raised platforms, a foot or more above the 
ground, served as sleeping places. These were covered with heavy 
skins during the cold season, and often with mats during the summer. 
Bags filled with Spanish moss were used on the beds. Low stools were 
seen by Du Pratz but were seldom used. Surrounding the houses 
were fields of corn, their principal food. The corn was pounded and 
crushed in wooden mortars, formed by hollowing sections of trees. 
Pottery vessels of many forms were made, some of sufficient size to 
hold 15 quarts. Little now remains to mark the sites of the settle- 
ments of these interesting people who, at the time of the first coming 
of the French, ranked as one of the most important tribes of the lower 
Mississippi Valley. 
Near the northeastern corner of the present State of Mississippi, 
in the vicinity of the headwaters of the Yazoo and Tombigbee Rivers, 
about the region now included in Union and Pontotoc Counties, lived 
the Chickasaw, ever enemies of the neighboring Choctaw, although 
speaking the same language and having many customs in common. 
Writing of the Chickasaw in 1771, Romans said: 
‘‘They live nearly in the center of a very large and somewhat 
uneven savannah, of a diameter of above three miles. . . They have 
in this field what might be called one town or rather an assemblage of 
~ hutts, and very narrow and irregular; this however they divide into 
seven, by the names of Melattaw (i. e.) hat and feather, Chatelaw (i. e.) 
copper town, Chukafalaya (i. e.) long town, Hikihaw (.. e.) stand still, 
Chucalissa (i. e.) great town, Tuckahaw (i. e.) a certain weed, and 
Ashuck hooma (i. e.) red grass; this was formerly inclosed in palisadoes, 
and thus well fortified against the attacks of small arms, but now it 
lays open.’’ (Romans, (1), pp. 62-63.) 
Among the Chickasaw each family had a group of three buildings, 
instead of the single structure usually claimed by an Indian family. 
This was likewise the practice among the Creek, who, however, often 
added a fourth, a storehouse. Romans described the houses of the 
Chickasaw as they were in 1771 (op. cit., p. 67): 
‘‘Their habitations at home consist of three buildings, a summer 
house, a corn house, and a winter house, called a hot house; the two 
