MYER] GORDON TOWN SITE 513 
and old. Being asort of mardi gras, it is called by the Creeks the ‘‘day of all-day 
eating,” or nita himpi isydéfkita. Since men are detailed for almost every con- 
ceivable ministration connected with the busk, the chiefs send out on the morning 
of the second day four men for logs to kindle the ‘‘new fire.”” They cut them as 
large as each man can carry, and deposit them on the four corners of the square, 
where they have to remain for that day. Then the logs are brought together 
with their ends so close as to allow the fire to burn between them, and on the 
last day everybody has to take home some of the new sacred fire (called so 
because kindled ceremonially), and extinguish the old fire upon his fireplace." 
Swan’s diagram (fig. 126) is here reproduced with his explanation 
of a typical Alabama Creek town square in 1791.” 
The publie squares, placed near the center of each town, are formed by four 
buildings of equal size, facing inward, and inclosing an area of about 30 feet on 
each side. These houses are made of the same materials as their dwelling houses, 
but differ by having the front which faces the square left entirely open, and the 
walls of the back sides have an open space of two feet or more next to the eaves, 
to admit a circulation of air. Each of these houses is partitioned into three 
apartments, making twelve in all, which are called the cabins; the partitions 
which separate these cabins are made of clay, and only as high as a man’s shoul- 
ders, when sitting. Each cabin has three seats, or rather platforms, being broad 
enough to sleep upon. The first is raised about two feet from the ground, the 
second is eight inches higher, and the third or back seat, as much above the 
second. The whole of the seats are joined together by a covering of cane mats 
as large as carpets. It is a rule, to have a new covering to the seats every year, 
previous to the ceremony of the busk; therefore, as the old coverings are never 
removed, they have, in most of their squares, eight, ten, and twelve coverings, 
laid one upon the other. 
The squares are generally made to face the east, west, north, and south. The 
center cabin, on the east side, is always allotted to the beloved, or first men of 
the town, and is called the beloved seat. Three cabins, on the south side, belong 
to the most distinguished warriors; and those on the north side to the second 
men, etc. The west side is appropriated to hold the lumber and apparatus used 
in cooking “black drink,’ ‘“‘war physic,’”’ ete. On the post, or on a plank over 
each of the cabins, are painted the emblems of the family to whom it is allotted, 
to wit: The buffalo family have the buffalo painted on their cabin, the bear has 
the bear, and so on. 
Up under the roofs of the houses are suspended a heterogeneous collection of 
emblems and trophies of peace and war, viz, eagles’ feathers, swans’ wings, 
wooden scalping knives, war clubs, red-painted wands, bunches of hoops on 
which to dry their scalps, remnants of scalps, bundles of snake-root war physic, 
baskets, ete. 
Such posts and other timbers about the square as are smooth enough to admit 
of it have a variety of rude paintings of warriors’ heads with horns, horned 
rattlesnakes, horned alligators, etc. 
Some of the squares in the red or war towns, which have always been governed 
by warriors, are called painted squares, having all the posts and smooth timber 
about them painted red, with white or black edges. This is considered a peculiar 
and very honorary mark of distinction. Some towns also have the privilege of 
a covered square, which is nothing more than a loose scaffolding of canes laid 
on poles over the whole of the area between the houses. Whence these privi- 
leges arose, I could never learn, and it is a doubt with me if they know themselves. 
11 Gatschet, op. cit., pp. 186-189. 
42 From Schoolcraft’s “‘ Information Respecting the Indian tribes of the United States,” vol. v, pp. 264-266. 
