196 BELIEFS AND USAGES OF CHICKASAW [ETH. ANN, 44 
THE TIMBER PEOPLE 
These people had ways of their own but it is difficult to tell in what these 
consisted. They lived in forested country, minded their own business, and did 
not bother others. What they liked best was to hunt and feast on wild game. 
That was why they were fond of forests. They made dwellings out of logs and 
wore skins of wild animals such as bear, deer, fox, skunk, raccoon, and panther. 
They tanned the hides of these animals and made clothing out of some while 
they exchanged others for the clothing used by whites. They loved one an- 
other and when one of them got into trouble of any kind, the others would 
help him out. But if they found that he had been stealing or committing some 
other depredation outside of their group they would not assist him. If it was 
proven that such an one, whether a man or a woman, was guilty, that person 
would have to suffer the death penalty. That was how they got rid of violators 
of law among them. Sometimes a person would be accused of something and 
it would be proved that he was innocent. The accusing witness would then be 
branded as a liar and people would never believe him afterwards. When a 
member of this group was found guilty of something not worthy of death, he 
was whipped and then liberated. 
One may doubt whether the superiority of one particular moiety 
was unanimously admitted by members of both as stated by Speck’s 
informant. He himself belonged to that which he asserted to be su- 
perior. But there appears to be no doubt that certain local groups 
were considered inferior to the rest. I have no information regard- 
ing the camp square other than that which Speck gives. In any 
case the custom must have applied rather to certain sections of the 
Nation than to the entire people, who could have been accommodated 
with difficulty in a temporary camping place. The tradition of such 
a custom possibly reflects some memory of the grouping of towns in 
the old country which formed three sides of a hollow square. 
The clan was called iksa, and the names of 15 iksa have been re- 
corded: Minko (Chief), Sfani or Spani (Spanish), Cawi (Raccoon), 
Ko icto (Panther), Ko inteus (Wildcat), Nani (Fish), Isi (Deer), 
Foci (Bird), Koni or Hockoni (Skunk), Fani (Squirrel), Hatctin- 
tctba (Alligator), Nacoba (Wolf), Tcata (or Oktcata) (Blackbird), 
Fox (Tcula) or Red Fox (Tcula homa), Haloba (?).%% Haloba is 
given by Gibbs alone, while the Alligator, Wolf, and Blackbird ap- 
pear only in the list collected for Morgan. It is possible that the 
word for squirrel (fani) has been confounded with that meaning 
Spanish (Sfani or Spani), although one of my informants claimed to 
know of a Squirrel clan. I have no explanation of the others which 
may have become extinct. It is unfortunate, however, that their ex- 
istence is vouched for by but one authority. I learned of the Fox 
% Adair (Hist. Am. Inds., p. 31) seems to imply the existence of Eagle and Buffalo 
clans, but he probably had in mind clans among the Creek Indians. He also speaks of a 
Chickasaw war leader called “the Torrepine Chieftain” or ‘the leader of the land- 
tortoise family,” implying that there was a clan of that name, but I think his deduction 
was erroneous. (Adair- p. 290.) 
