316 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [bhi.l. 73 
In the beginning of my narrative I said as a prelude I would intersperce an occa- 
sional tradition, therefore I will relate one retained by the Natche tribe and related 
by them as a matter handed down through successive generations for their information. 
I insert it to show in its connection and inference that in olden times theii patriarch 
knew or heard in some way of the deluge and that the primary information or knowl- 
edge he had of it had got blended with traditional fiction. It is said that speech and 
rational power was given to man alone and he by his knowledge and understanding 
is enabled to make the other creatures subservient to him, so that he rules and man- 
ages them in a way most conducive to his will and their comfort in life, but when the 
gift of speech is imparted to a dumb creature it is to be observed as a matter of inspira- 
tion to the beast purposed by the great spirit to be words of sacred truth from himself 
through said creature. As a manifest proof of the foregoing remarks it is said that 
there was a large assemblage of the antients on some particular occasion, in times 
of yore, when to their surprise they were accosted by a little dog, who, having gaped 
and yawned in a particular whining manner, began in articulate words to bemoan 
their sudden fate. He called on them individually to look between his ears first 
toward sunset and then in every other direction and see their fate. They looked 
accordingly as he said. They could see nothing, but on a second bidding they could 
see mountains of water rolling toward them. He bade him who could fly to the moun- 
tains for safety and escape death, so they fled. Only a few of them reached the moun- 
tains, however, most being overtaken and overwhelmed by the waving torrent of 
water. Among them the "old man of sorrow" was one who escaped by his flight to 
the mountains. He is called in their tongue Tarn seal hous hous opah. 1 He uttered 
his wailings and lamentations continually, and in tears of sorrow he mourned for all 
that perished, and his sorrow likewise extended to the living whom he took under 
bis care and instructed them by good words how best to live in future in order to 
shun the paths of destruction. The earth was overwhelmed by the billows of water 
and no one survived that did not attain the summit of the mountains. From these 
was the earth repeopled. Who this old man of lamentation or sorrow was may be a 
question but as I never heard any more of him I shall leave him as I heard of him, 
without any conjecture relative to him, to be solved by the inquisitive, and the 
antient of days. 2 
In 1796 the trader in this town was Joseph Stiggins, as above 
noted; in 1797 the traders were "James Quarls," who had "the 
character of an honest man," and "Thomas Wilson, a saddler." 3 
It is not generally known that John Stuart, Indian agent under 
the British Government, at one time formulated a proposition to 
restore these Indians to their old home near Natchez, Mississippi. 
His suggestion is outlined in a letter dated December 2, 1766, in the 
following terms: 
This consideration [that the Choctaw might at any time obstruct the navigation of 
the Mississippi] suggested to me the advantage which might arise to His Majesty's 
Service from collecting the Scatter 'd Remains of the Natchez and giving them a Set- 
tlement in their own Country again. There may be from 150 to 200 Gun Men of them 
remaining, in the Cherokee, Creek, and Chickasaw Nations; they still retain their 
Language and Customs, as well as the strongest Resentment for the Expulsion and 
in a great Measure the Destruction of their Nation by the French. 4 
1 Tarn =dom', person; seal=sil, big; hous hous opah may be from the stem ho, duplicated, meaning to 
howl, or from hoc, old, perhaps in the form hachactipa, "is very old," though I do not have this form 
in my material. 
2 Stiggins, MS., pp. 7-11. 
s Ga. Hist. Soe. Colls., ix, pp. 34, 169. 
4 English Transcriptions, Lib. Cong. 
