BULL. 30] 



BIG MOUTH BILOXI 



147 



Big Mouth. A chief of the Brule Sioux, 

 tliough an Oglala by descent. A contem- 

 porary of Spotted Tail, and as highly re- 

 garded by his tribe for his manlj^ and 

 warlike qualities as the latter, though of 

 less historical note. He is spoken of 

 (Ind. Aff. Rep., 316, 1869) as one of the 

 principal chiefs at Whetstone agency on 

 the Missouri, where most of the Brule 

 and Oglala bands had gathered. The 

 stand taken by Big Mouth in reference to 

 the relations of the Sioux with the whites 

 caused him to gain steadily in influence 

 and power. Spotted Tail, having visited 

 Washington and other cities, where he 

 was much feted, returned with changed 

 views as to the Indian policy, a fact 

 seized upon by Big Mouth to disparage his 

 rival. Realizing that the tide was turn- 

 ing against him, Spotted Tail, in 1873 or 

 1874, called at the lodge of Big Mouth, who 

 on api^earing at the entrance was seized 

 by two warriors and held by them while 

 Spotted Tail shot him dead. (c. t. ) 



Big-mush. A noted western Cherokee, 

 known to the whites also as Hard-mush 

 and among his people as Gatuii^wa'li 

 ( ' bread made into balls or lumps ' ) , killed 

 by the Texans in 1839. — Mooney in 19th 

 Rep. B. A. E., 1900. See Boiol. 



Big Neck. See Moanahonga. 



Big Rock. A point on Shiawassee r., 

 in lower ^Michigan, at which in 1820 the 

 Chippewa had a reservation. — Saginaw 

 treaty (1820) in U. S. Ind. Treaties, 142, 

 1873. 



Big Swamp Indians. A name applied 

 to Seminole, principally of the Mikasuki 

 division, near Miccosukee lake, Leon co., 

 Fla. — McKenney and Hall, Ind. Tribes, 

 II, 157, 1854. 

 Long Swamp Indians. — Ibid. 



Big Tree. See AdoeeUe. 



Bihi Konlo. One of the 5 hamlets com- 

 posing the Choctaw town of Imongal- 

 asha. — Halbert in Miss. Hist. Soc. Publ., 

 VI, 432, 1902. 



Biktasatetuse ('very bad lodges': a 

 Crow name) . A subtribe or band of the 

 Crows or of some neighboring tribe; ap- 

 parently tiie same as Ashiapkawi. 

 A-shi-ap'-ka-wi,— Havden, Ethno^. and Philol. 

 Mo. Viil., 402, 1862. Bik-ta'-sa-te-tu'-se.— Ibid. 



Biloxi. A name of uncertain meaning, 

 apparently from the Choctaw language. 

 They call themselves Taneks liw/a, 'first 

 people.' A small Siouan tril)e formerly 

 living in s. Mis.sissippl, now nearly or quite 

 extinct. The Biloxi were supposed to 

 belong to the Muskhogean stock until 

 Gatschet visited the survivors of the tribe 

 in Louisiana in 1886 and found that many 

 of the words bore strong resemblance to 

 those in Siouan languages, a determination 

 fully substantiated! n 1 892 by J. Owen Dor- 

 sey. To what i)articnlargroup of the Siou- 

 an family the tribe is to be assigned has not 



been determined; but it is probable that 

 the closest affinity is with Dorsey'sDhegi- 

 ha group, so called. The first direct notice 

 of the Biloxi is that by Iberville, who 

 found them in 1699 about Biloxi bay, on 

 the gulf coast of Mississippi, in connection 

 with two other small tribes, the Paska- 

 gula and Moctobi, the three together 

 numbering only about 20 cabins (Margry, 

 Dec, IV, 195, 1880). The Biloxi removed 

 to the w. shore of Mobile bay in 1702. 

 In 1761 Jefferys spoke of them as having 

 been n. e. of Cat id., and of their subse- 

 quent removal to the n. w. of Pearl r. 

 Hutchins, in 1784, mentions a Biloxi vil- 

 lage on the w. side of the Mississippi, a 

 little below the Paskagula, containing 

 30 warriors. According to Sibley (1805) 

 a part of the Biloxi came with some 

 French, from near Pensacola, about 1763, 

 and settled first in Avoyelles parish, La., 

 on Red r., whence they "moved higher 

 up to Rapide Bayou, and from thence to 

 the mouth of Rigula de Bondieu, a divi- 

 sion of Red r., about 40 m. below Natchi- 

 toch, where they now live, and are reduced 

 to about 30 in number." Berguin-Duval- 

 lon (1806) mentions them as in two vil- 

 lages, one on Red r., 19 leagues from the 

 Missis.sippi, the other on a lake called 

 Avoyelles. He also refers to some as being 

 wanderers on Crocodile bayou. School- 

 craft said thev numbered 55 in 1825. In 

 1828 (Bui. Soc. Mex. Geog., 1870) there 

 were 20 families of the. tribe on the e. bank 

 of Nechesr.,Tex. Porter, inl829 (School- 

 craft, Ind. Tribes, iii, 596), gave the num- 

 ber as 65 living with the Caddo, Paska- 

 gula, and other small tribes on Red r., 

 near the Texas frontier, and in 1846 But- 

 ler and Lewis found a Biloxi camp on 

 Little r., a tributary of the Brazos in 

 Texas, about two days' journey from the 

 latter stream. After this little was heard 

 of them until 1886. According to Gat- 

 schet there were in that year a few Biloxi 

 among the Choctaw and Caddo, but he 

 visited only those in Avoyelles parish, 

 La. In 1892 Dorsey found about a dozen 

 of the tribe near Lecompte, Rapides 

 parish. La., but none remained at Avo- 

 yelles. From the terms they used and 

 information obtained Dorsey concluded 

 that prior to the coming of the whites the 

 men wore the breech cloth, a belt, leggings, 

 moccasins, and garters, and wrapped 

 around the body a skin robe. Feather 

 headdresses and necklaces of bone, and 

 of the liills of a long-legged redbird (fla- 

 mingo?) were worn, as also were nose- 

 rings and earrings. The dwellings of the 

 people resembled those found among the 

 northern tribes of the same family, one 

 kind similar to the low tent of the Osage 

 and Winnebago, the other like the high 

 tent of the Dakota, Omaha, and others. 

 It is said they formerly made pottery. 



