bwantok] BAKLY HISTORY OF THE CREEK INDIAN'S 173 
The origin of the Hitchiti is given in various ways, but thia is what I have beard 
regarding them. The true name of these people was A'tcik ha/ta. They claim that 
they came to some place where the sea was narrow and frozen over. Crossing upon the 
ice they traveled from place to place toward the east until they reached the Atlantic 
« >cean. They traveled to see from where the sun came. Xow they found themselves 
blocked by the ocean and. being tired, they lingered along the coast for some days. 
The women and children went down on the beach to gather shells and other things 
that were beautiful to look at. They were shown to the old men who said, "These are 
pretty things, and we are tired and cannot proceed farther on account of the ocean, 
which has Intercepted us. We will stop and rest here."' They took the beautiful 
shells, pebbles, etc., which the women and children had brought up and made rattles, 
and the old men said, " Inasmuch as we cannot go farther we will try to find some way 
of enjoying ourselves and stop where we now are. " They amused themselves, using 
those rattles as they did so, and while they were there on the shore with them people 
came across the water to visit them. These were the white people, and the Indians 
treated them hospitably, and at that time they were on very friendly terms with each 
other. The white people disappeared, however, and when they did so they left a keg 
of something which we now know was whisky. A cup was left with this, and the 
Indians began pouring whisky into this cup and smellingof it, all being much pleased 
with the odor. Some went so far as to drink a little. They became intoxicated and 
began to reel and stagger around and butt each other with their heads. Then the 
white people came back and the Indians began trading peltries, etc., for things 
which the white people had. 
Then the Musk ogees, who claim to have emerged from the navel of the earth some- 
where out west near the Rocky Mountains, came to the place where the Hitchiti were 
living. The Muskogee were very warlike, and the Hitchiti concluded it would be 
best to make friends with them and become a part of them. Ever since they have 
been together as one people. Hitciti is the Muskogee word meaning "to see, " and 
was <;iven to them because they went to see from whence the sun came. So their 
name was changed from A'tcik-ha'ta. The two people became allied somewhere 
in Florida. 
Gatschet says that some Hitchiti Indians claimed that their an- 
cestors had fallen from the sky. Chicote and Judge Stidham, how- 
ever, told him the following story: 
Their ancestors first appeared in the country by coming out of a canebrake or reed 
thicket near the seacoast. They sunned and dried their children during four days, 
then set out; arrived at a lake and stopped there. Some thought it was the sea, but it 
was a lake. They set out again, traveled up a stream and settled there for a per- 
manency. 1 
The origin on the seacoast and the migration upstream suggest 
that this last myth may have belonged to the Sawokli. 
At one time the Hitchiti were probably the most important tribe in 
southern Georgia and their language the prevailing speech in that 
region from the Chattahoochee River to the Atlantic Ocean. Never- 
theless the true Muskogee entered at such an early period that we 
<-;tn not say we have historical knowledge of a time when the Hitchiti 
were its sole inhabitant-. 
1 Gatschet, Creek Mig. Leg., i, pp. 77-7v 
