214 BELIEFS AND USAGES OF CHICKASAW [BTH. ANN. 44 
whether the local groups themselves had chiefs. A little light is 
shed upon these questions by Speck, who says: 
Hach clan was under the leadership of a chief (minko), chosen by the council 
of clan elders for life in the old days, but at present only for a term of years. 
He was sometimes called by the name of capitani. A clan could take the 
warpath under the leadership of the minko.”* 
The “ present ” to which he refers is already past, and the unfor- 
tunate confusion in Speck’s material between the totemic iksa and 
the local groups prevents us from knowing with certainty to which 
kind of group the above information applies. However, it is a 
probable inference that each local group was organized something 
like the various local bodies of Creek clans, the “ uncle” who was 
esteemed to combine years and wisdom in the highest degree being 
recognized as leader, common protector, and general advisor to the 
youth of the clan. It may be inferred that one of these was selected 
to represent the totemic iksa, but how this choice was effected it 
would now be impossible even to guess. 
Cushman says: 
The Chickasaw ruler was styled king instead of chief; and his chief officer 
was called Tishu Miko. 
Ishtehotohpih was the reigning king at the time they left their ancient 
places of abode east of the Mississippi River for those west. He died in 
1840. He was the last of the Chickasaw rulers who bore the title, king. 
After his death the monarchial form of government, which was hereditary, 
as I was informed by Goy. Cyrus Harris, was abolished, and the form of 
republicanism adopted. The power of their kings was very circumscribed, 
being only about equal to that of their present governor. The king’s wife 
was called queen, but clothed with no authority whatever, and regarded only 
as other Chickasaw women. 
[That] Tishu Miko was a wise counselor and brave warrior among the 
Chickasaws is about all that has escaped oblivion, as little has been preserved 
of his life by tradition or otherwise. He was the acting Tishu Miko of 
Ishtehotohpih at the time of the removal of his people to the west. He died 
in 1839, the year before his royal master. He was appointed during life as 
one of the chief counselors to Ishtehotohpih; and when he advised the king 
upon aby mooted question, so great was his influence over the other coun- 
selors, as Governor Harris stated, that they at once unanimously acquiesced 
to his propositions, but invariably with the reiterated exclamation, ‘“'That’s 
just what I thought! That's just what I thought!” while the king said but 
little, but generally adopted the suggestions of Tishu Miko.” n 
Whether one translates the word Mitko “chief” or “king” and 
calls his wife “chief’s wife” or “queen” is a matter of indifference 
if the connotation of the terms is not suffered to mislead. As Cush- 
man himself says, the power of their kings was very closely circum- 
scribed. The constitution put in force in 1840 was more democratic 
than the older unwritten laws of the tribe, not so much in taking 
Sta Jour. Amer, Folk-Lore, vol. xx, pp. 52, 54. 
G2 Cushman, Hist. Choc., Chick., and Natchez Inds., p. 496. 
